W
HILE visiting New York in early 1985, Scott stumbled upon a “weird” witchcraft bookshop called Magickal Childe, where he discovered apowerful portal into many of the songs on
This Is The Sea.
Among the artefacts on sale was ahuge book with aplain black cover.
“There was nothing inside,” says Scott. “Just blank pages. Very interesting indeed! Itook it to the man at the counter and he said, “It’s aBook of Shadows. It’s what witches write their spells in.” It struck me that songs were just another kind of spell, so Ibought the book. When Igot back to my little flat in Ladbroke Grove, Iwrote all my songs in progress into the book, and continued using it daily as my go-to songwriting place. This magical thing happened: the book itself became athing of magic, of power, because Iwould only have to open it for the songwriting mode to fall upon me. It was agreat tool in the songwriting process.”