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After having spent nearly 4 years on 'Colours' project (2015-2019) that includes those hidden/forgotten songs John Bliss wrote back in the 1980s, we simply wanted to make a new album with new materials as John kept writing new songs in the meantime. So, we started this 'Assorted Gemstones' project - our 10th original album (including 3 unreleased albums) on New Year's Day 2020 by recording simple acoustic demos of new songs.

In the beginning of 'Assorted Gemstones' recording sessions, we were still using our old recording systems (MacBook Leopard 2006 and Focusrite Saffire - White Face 2005) and the systems were soon (not too soon) to be replaced by iMac 2017 (Mojave) and Focusrite Clarett 4 Pre. So we had to spend lots of time for setting up new recording systems including new DAW and all the plugins and so on during the recording sessions. Also, the rehearsal studio just across the street from our flat (Great Bliss Studio) that we had been using for 12 years since we arrived here in Tokyo from the Himalayas suddenly closed down due to Covid-19 pandemic in the middle of the recording sessions. So again, we had to stop everything for a while as Tokyo entered a Covid-19 lockdown period… in the meantime, we had to find another rehearsal studio where we can carry on rehearsing/recording drums and so on. In this chaotic situation, we released the 1st single 'Whatever The Weather' from the album along with a music video on 7th July 2020.

While we're upgrading everything around studio equipment including musical instruments, recording equipment and computer related stuff, we kept recording songs for the album. We released other 3 singles 'Sour Grapes' (December 2020), 'Holding On To You' (June 2021) and 'When The Sun Turns Blue' (December 2021) along with music videos from the album. Every song has different sound and flavour or style as we recorded in different situations. We also recorded songs written in the Himalayas around the year 2000 like 'White Lotus Flower', ‘Pink Lotus Flower' and 'Goodbye From The Sky'. The album may sound sort of 'Assorted' but they're 'Gems' in their own way… Enjoy 'Assorted Gemstones'!