The Ice

The mid-’90s. Back then, every young Frenchman had to do national service. You could skip the army by working sixteen months for a French company abroad, so that’s what I did. It landed me at Mid Southern Water, a water company in Camberley, in the south of England.

I went out for coffee with a girl I’d just met. I only ever saw her that one night. But I never forgot the story she told me.

Her best friend, back in Sweden, had gone skating on a frozen lake with her boyfriend. The ice was thinner than it looked. It gave way, and the two of them went through together. Her friend was twenty-two.

The way she told it, it was almost romantic. Two young lovers, gone together, under the ice.

Then she told me the part that stuck. If her friend had asked her to come skating that day, she would have gone. She would have been on the ice with them. That’s how thin the line is.

That same evening, back in the little house I was renting, her story was still vivid in my head. I picked up my guitar and the song just flowed out, sounding just like it does today. Thankfully, I captured it on my beloved Tascam 464 four-track. That recording is still around.

A couple of months later I made the first real demo with a neighbour, a young bass player who was really, really good. That’s him on bass in the ’90s demo.

In 2019 I recorded it again, with much better gear. Listening back to the ’90s demo now, something strange happens with the tempo, and the beginning feels rushed. The 2019 version is more relaxed. The atmosphere is closer to what I always heard.

Some people say my demos are better than the release. Have a listen, and tell me which one you prefer.