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The Grim’s fourth album was inspired by a late morning text. I’d been up all night with Steve: drinking, listening to music, playing cards, drinking, chatting, drinking. As the sun came up, we’d moved out into the garden and carried on with our drinking and general misbehaving.

At some point, I realised I was due to be playing five-a-side later that evening (it must have been a Thursday). Clearly, I was thoroughly incapable of getting to the sports venue, let alone being able to aim my foot at anything.

Richard was the organiser of the five-a-side games at the time, but I didn’t have his number! Fortunately, I had the number for Carl, who I knew would be playing, and I reckoned he could pass on my apologies to Rich. So I sent a text to Carl:

Dear Cark. Please let Rich know I can’t make footie tonight as I am incapable.

And, frankly, that was all it took for me to get banging on with another Grim album. It’s the little things.

The front cover features a Mr Happy plastic seat which my sister bought for me when I was a mere stripling of 30-odd. He seemed like the perfect embodiment of Cark – a superhero bereft of any superpowers other than eternal joy and naivety. I took many pictures of him in various plants in my garden; he seemed to love climbing the taller ones.

The back cover may look like it features an Incapable which, of course, is the point, but it actually features my good friend Gareth charging his internal batteries as we prepare to embark on Bestival 2009 (back when it was still a reasonable size festival, and before it got overcrowded and over-run by ketamine and nitrous oxide fuelled teenagers who didn’t seem to know how to behave at a festival, or in public in general). Batteries certainly needed to be properly prepared as, among others, the festival would treat us to Soulwax, Massive Attack and Kraftwerk.

I got excited with Cark. I had a story that I could set to music.

Not much of a story, I grant you.

I had characters maybe.

Well, one character.

Cark.

Our hero.

The incapable Cark.