X Fade Records album EP1 is now available to buy or stream on all major platforms
School record label releases album entirely written by students on Spotify
In the 1992, Andy Gilbert came to Sedgehill Academy as a music teacher. 17 years and over 1000 tracks later, he's still working with Sedgehill students to write, record and produce songs.
Whilst releasing an album is nothing new for the school's own record label, X Fade Records, EP1, released last week, is the first album to be available for sale and streaming across all major music platforms. These include Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and You Tube.
EP1 is a compilation of 5 tracks written, recorded and produced by the students at Sedgehill Academy working with Andy Gilbert.
"Eyes Off Me" and "No Warning" are songs written and performed by some of the girls in Vocalize (Sedgehill Academy choir, mentored by Andy) including Year 13 girls Ana Teixeira, Ruby Langthorne and Melek Orhan. Both were written during a two day X Fade Writing Camp, hosted at the headquarters of Lewisham Music in February 2022. The Writing Camp was an initiative organised by Andy Gilbert which saw a variety of music industry professionals mentoring students in songwriting and producing. Amongst the industry professionals were....
"Eyes Off Me" is about being OK after a break up, and was written by a larger group of students ranging from years 8 to 13. “No Warning” was partly inspired by “Mirrors” by Lil’ Wayne and the girls worked with Scottish singer songwriter Red who is known for her high voice, and former Sedgehill student Sam Ward. Red, whose Instagram account is @itsredredred, shared advice on singing as well as writing, pushing them outside of their comfort zone to achieve the style they were looking for.
“We used to release our tracks on Soundcloud and CDs, but Spotify signals the change in how people are consuming music so we’re really pleased to have been able to release an album that features on such widely used mainstream platforms that can be played at any time.” Ana Teixeira
“There are a lot of benefits to be found in music, it helps me to get outside of my own head and write things down. Life is short so if you have a passion for something you should explore it. We’ve been given such great opportunities in our time here. Mr Gilbert is an amazing producer.” Ruby Langthorne
"See It" is track written by another Vocalize member, year 12 student Tracy Tran which is about seeing a person for who they really are. She wrote the song in just an hour with her younger self in mind, then recorded and produced it with Gilbert. “See It” enjoyed it’s debut play on Release Radio in April which Tracy is really pleased about. Despite her talent, Tracy has no plans to continue with her music career professionally, she’s off to university to study Sociology but will continue to write and record music purely for pleasure because it helps her to relax.
“It’s such a cliché answer but I feel like the music makes me feel like I belong. In year 7 I used to be really shy, I used to sit in the back corner in class, but I joined Vocalize and over the years it’s really helped with my confidence. Now I’m able to feel comfortable interacting with other students.” Tracy Tran
Also on the album are two tracks from the Rap Collective. The Rap Collective is the name for a group of male students who came together through Andy Gilbert who wanted to harness emerging talent he’d seen at Sedgehill that didn’t fit in to the style of music being created with Vocalize. Rap Collective includes…
“Cypher” and “Shutdown” were also written during the X Fade Writing Camp with both tracks being written chorus-first as they wanted to make sure it was really catchy, melodic and vibrant. Despite the name, “Shutdown” has a really upbeat chorus and a message of positivity. “Cypher” is also a motivational track about achieving your aspirations.
“The writing camp was a great experience that helped me to develop a lot of skills. I write music and in my own time outside of school and it’s helped me a lot with that”. Fahzell