When Martin and I began to create no other gods it felt like the doors to the sweet shop had been left unlocked. Global climate, love, humour and despair - our (endangered) world was a veritable bucket of liquorice all-sorts!

With no preconceived direction, therefore, we both felt free to explore all areas of our lyrical and musical creativity.

There was no rush either but there was intensity. What intensity! We both realised that this was an unprecedented opportunity to create something personal, meaningful, even original – not easy in this day and age.

I write about current affairs and personal stuff, sometimes both in the same poem. I try to grasp at the truth of a situation, digging deep for those phrases that miraculously capture the zeitgeist!

To that end I first recorded my poems to a musical beat, emailed the files to Martin who then composed music to fit the words and ‘feel’ of the poem. There was much to-ing and fro-ing of files between England and Scotland - our respective homes.

I do not write traditional verse/chorus lyrics. My work is rhythmical but breaks out of rhythm. Half-rhymes and assonance are more the norm while obvious rhymes are put in almost as a joke. That was the challenge Martin faced. He in turn pushed me further, raising the overall tempo and matching my words with his equally challenging music.

For Martin, therefore, it was a case of taking strength from my words while interacting with the unusual playing of his Seaboard (a rubber keyboard-type instrument). Some pieces were developed traditionally from beats or chord sequences whereas others grew from the creation of sculpted 'shapes' on the Seaboard - rising and falling in response to the lyrical content of each poem.

What was paramount, however, was that we both wanted this album to show as wide a repertoire as possible without going completely esoteric. In the process, both demons and angels were consulted and consoled.

Does it work? We think so but in the end you must decide if the truth, humour and emotion that we both wished to capture shines through our creative efforts.