The song “Restless Moon” was conspired one lonely night in London. I was staring out the front window of a house in Crouch End, staring at the rows of English houses, watching snow gently drift to the ground. The house was empty. My landlord and housemates were away. And I thought of a girl I once knew, I thought of her plans, I thought of her free spirit, and I wondered where she was in the world. All while staring, like a caged animal, out the window at the moon. The guitars start then Niall’s smooth bass brings the band in.

Graveyard Girl, by Unfurled (Flickr)

Watching, waiting, looking at the ceiling, trying to remember her telephone number.

I could remember most of her phone number that restless night. But the numbers were jumbled in my head. I picked up the phone to call but never dialled.

She had plans to travel the country, on a bus bought from the company. I wonder if she got there, or if she never left home.

She had this crazy idea to buy a big old bus and convert it in to a traveling home and just go around the country hanging out and visiting people. On this particular crazy night I wondered if she ever did it, or if she shelved her dreams. Her life had tragic elements but I never knew where the fiction began and the fact ended. That restless night I needed her to be in her bus somewhere north, up the coast or in the desert.

I had some chords lying around. I’d discovered the main riff of E minor to E major and I was quite proud of that, as I’d never seen it done before. I had the chorus line and I had an idea of making each chorus one line longer than the previous one. To try and make the song jar, matching the restless mood.

I’ve been missing you

She always wanted someone to write a song for her so I thought I’d give it a crack. By the end I’m not sure what the song was about. Like many songs, the constraints of rhyme, structure, time and instinct take the writing to surprising places.

(Six) years in the desert and I wrote this strange dialect. What here does that mean? Like I never did stumble.

It was six years since I knew her. But then the song went off in strange new directions. I guess the desert is a metaphor for loneliness.

I’ve been missing you. But it’s so late at night.

Winding back through ancient dust, Outback rumble to memory past, living breathing forward through, an iris blue, a sky clouded in mood, golden and clear, shed no crocodile tears.

The bridge is my favourite part of the song. The break to C and E minor makes easy work after the verses. The lyrics dripped off my pen without any consideration for interpretation. Reading them now, there’s a yearning for home. There’s a sense that when you’re anxious, lonely, fearful, your focus narrows and you loop bad material in your brain. It’s about winding back and seeing the wider truth.

Living in a coma, like I’d ever go and phone her. When the moments passed, was it ever that good?

I’ve been missing you. But it’s so late at night. Restless Moon is shining bright.

Not a very romantic ending I admit. But hey memory makes everything seem idyllic. Let it go man. I love singing this last chorus with Jay.

The ending became a band jam with momentum building through each repeat. Rob loves banging out the drums to the end. The rest of the song has been hard work; all strange section lengths and changes. Now the song has made its mind up and it’s a simple three-chord race to the end with some nice organ overdubs.