'Turn Away' is a richly textured funk/blues song that features The Turtle Island String Quartet and the great L.A. studio session drummer, M.B. Gordy. I have loved the sound of a string quartet ever since I studied composition with Mel Powell, a Pulitzer Prize winning composer.

The song opens with a funky string quartet passage I wrote followed by a wonderful blues violin solo (played by Mads Tolling who contributed to several other songs on the CD) over MB's funk beat. Peter Gabriel's influence on our songwriting comes through the minute the first verse kicks in. The lyrics on 'Turn Away' reflect our commitment to exploring socially responsible themes � in this case, income inequality and the morality (or lack thereof) of a very few people amassing a disproportionate percentage of available wealth and whether the pursuit of wealth really leads to happiness.

Unlike the intimate songs on 'Long Way Down', 'Turn Away' is so layered that we ran to about ninety tracks causing the computer to repeatedly crash trying to get the song finalized. The coda section is by far my favorite. I asked the string players to improvise on the passage I wrote for the introduction.

What you hear on the CD is exactly what they came up with � unedited! We initially had a drum part in the coda as well but ultimately decided to leave the drums out in order to highlight the incredible quartet playing.