The Albums

Così Ancora 2008

Earlier this year my musical journey took me to some strange new places. While working on various unfinished projects in an array of differing fields I began to compose some simple piano music. I have always loved the piano works of Erik Satie and more recently Ludovico Einaudi. However, while listening to Speilgel im Speigel by Arvo Part I became more interested in searching for space in music - space and time for something beautiful to grow.The compositional process was peaceful and serene. There are some other subtley layered tracks on the album, but on the whole the music is solo piano. I also began working at a nursery school as a music teacher and I began to see how children seem to be happy in the space that simple, unadorned music provides when adults need more 'stuff' to fill it up. The innocence and raw enthusiasm of the children is overwhelming and, on a subtle level, this is what I was trying to replicate in the music. I also joined a band, Envy, as keyboard player which forced me to revisit my modest piano skills. While doing so I began to find some gentle timbres on the piano which I wanted to explore.

The album is called Cosi Ancora (in Italian it means 'so soft'). The reason the titles are in Italian is down to ambiguity rather than pretentiousness. I wanted some the titles to be a little more mysterious, and there is a beautifully musical aspect to the Italian language which seemed to fit the mood of the album. The album was recorded at Cliff Corner studios in Norfolk and at Lodge Studios in Northamptonshire.

The music is dedicated to Betsy and all at Phoenix Montessori.

Isolated Incidents 2008

I really enjoyed the creation of this album as it was free of any constraints. Sometimes it's great to work to a brief as it gives you a focus on your work, but it's also important to let your mind play for a while, do it's thing! I had a lot of songs to choose from but somehow ended up creating an album of songs with a country tint. It was nice to use the banjo and the slide guitar to help bring some new sounds to my work. There are a few songs I am really proud of here, not least on Where's My Boy. There's something undeniable about the song, which deals with the plight of a father who sits with his wife at the breakfast table and waits for his son to come home from Iraq. I steer away from political songs but I do write a lot about the way politics effects the lives of people. I also like Which Way Does the Wheel Turn? It is a song about being at a crossroads in your life where the next ten seconds of your life can make or break you. Sometimes we make the right choice sometimes we don't.

Albatross Bay 2007

This was an album which took a long time to complete - about 2 years in fact. This was because I recorded a lot of material which didn't make the final cut. I recorded nearly 60 songs and pages of alternative lyrics. I used a lot of great instruments on the album - oud, sitar, duduk, dobro and most notably, a charango. I learned to play the 10 string instrument after friend of mine brought me one back from Bolivia. The instrument, which has a wonderfully bright tone, ended up playing a central part in the timbral construction of the album. Albatross Bay was inspired by the novel The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux. It is the story of an inventor, Ali Fox who, having become disillusioned with the American Dream, takes his family to live in the Honduran Rainforest to build a new life of simplicity. It is also about the delicate relationship between Ali and his son, Charlie and it was this relationship which I found interesting. At the time I had become a father for the second time and so a more personal element found its way into the album.

The Troubadour Ballads 2006

While sitting out in the car park in the BBC Radio Norfolk studios I was simply watching people and I was struck by the strange and wonderful people around me and decided to write a more character driven set of songs. I had been inspired by Springsteen's Ghost of Tom Joad CD and was struck by the space that the acoustic guitar format brings to lyrics. The Troubadour Ballads was recorded in Lincolnshire by Ross Griggs. The album was mostly recorded in one day - these were performances rather than studio creations. All of the characters on the CD are struggling with certain aspects of their lives and some move on but some can't.