My first song ‘I Feel Alive’ was recently used for TG4's ‘Always On’ player. You might have heard it on the radio or stumbled up on it online. The creatives at Tenth Man did an amazing job of creating a campaign full of energy and movement, and I think the song fits!
Like so many people with a beating heart I have been profoundly affected by what is happening to the people of Palestine which is a brutal genocide - not a humanitarian crisis, as the media insist on calling it.
My good friends at Wavefield Studios kindly offered their space and time to record this song - Palaistin. I contributed the cost of the studio day to FAJR Scientific. and want to raise more funds through this song.
For over a year we have watched the mass slaughter of a people. Innocent people. Many of them children.
What I have witnessed has changed me. What I cannot comprehend is how the status quo continues and how some remain unchanged.
I have chosen FAJR as the organisation I will raise funds for because I have watched Dr Tahir and his team working tirelessly to save the lives of many children, covered in blood and missing limbs. I have listened to his accounts of their daily reality and I have seen his eyes. I don't know how he maintains his composure and strength but I am glad these organisations exist.
If you listen to the song, please acknowledge this by way of donation to Palestine:
My friend Mahdi works to keep the children entertained and gives them a means to express and process their trauma using his puppetry and theatre. You can donate here
Donate here to FAJR Scientific who do incredible work in Gaza
Or select a group or individual of your choice.
Nx
There is something about the word foraging so evocative and deeply satisfying - delighted I have mustered it in to my forthcoming song. I spent a good ten minutes talking to Probiotic Man in the English Market about the joys of foraging, as although I love the word I can't honestly say I've ever been foraging for more than blackberries (and house keys) so it has bumped its way up to the top of my bucket list, even though it might have to be mushrooms and nettles between now and Spring unless any foragers want to tell me otherwise and will take me out to the hills one day in pursuit of rare winter botanicals…
Later that day I ended up talking again about foraging with the lovely cocktail lady in Cask on foraging for marigolds and all the other delectable floral finds that found their way into my delicious drink. On that particular evening I was waiting to go and see Vittorio Angelone at the Everyman (highly recommend!) and I ordered myself a “Gourd Vibes Only” exclusively for the name of the thing because I don't like vodka…but turns out I do love carrot dust. It's a thing, and it's tasty AF. So tasty I'm going to share how you make it below!
For the Carrot Powder:
Heat a dehydrator to 130°F. In a small mixing bowl, combine 1 cup reserved carrot pulp and bitters. Mix to combine. Thinly spread mixture onto a parchment-lined sheet tray. Dehydrate 12 hours, checking periodically to ensure bright color remains. Once dried, pulverize mixture in a spice grinder. Weigh mixture. Add equal weight of white sugar. Mix to combine. Transfer mixture to an airtight container and reserve.
I was intending to release 'Wildflower' in August on my father's birthday, but life happened and so here we are - instead I have decided to release it in December to remember my father on his death day. He passed away three years ago and all is altered ever since. I haven't managed to carve out time for writing at the moment but I did end up singing an impromptu song about my father last night when I stumbled upon an Olafur Arnald's piano performance about saudade - the feeling nostalgia and longing - on his Instagram. I might eventually revisit that.
This seems to be how I write - in short bursts of creativity and activity - requiring much longer periods of rest and solitude that I never seem to get enough of. Introvert? 40? I like the way Julia Cameron describes it in The Artist's Way. Creative impulse is more like a spirit that visits and will only stay so long - if you don't welcome him/her/they/it, then they may try and try again before leaving to give the idea or gift to someone else who will honour it. Speaking of spirits - check out Ghost Story by Wondery. This podcast will have you sitting on the edge of your bed.
Time has a completely different quality for me since the pandemic. I feel I am existing slightly outside of time; as if I took a step to the left, off the main timeline - the one that everyone else seems to be on. Anyone else feeling like this?
Wildflower will be out in December.
There are two aspects of ‘The Artist’s Way” that I have stuck to religiously since recommitting to my creative practice. The first is the morning pages, and the second is the ‘artist date’. I make sure to do daily or weekly mini-dates to keep myself engaged and inspired - these can be as simple as flicking through an art magazine in the shop - but I also make sure to schedule monthly/quarterly epic dates. These are the artist dates where you basically love-bomb yourself with creativity, and their effects last for weeks and months afterwards.
This would be the second time I got to see PJ Harvey live. I have been listening to her since I was around eleven years old. She was the reason I bought my first electric Fender Telecaster when I was fourteen. She was the reason I started exploring the screaming, caterwauling aspect of my own voice. Excited does not capture the feeling.
What I love about PJ Harvey (other than ‘everything!’) is that her evolution as an artist is so clear, so bold and so unique. She blurs the line of theatre, music and dance. She has transformed so much over her career, but not in a dramatic way. In a slow, natural, evolutionary way. As I watched her on stage, invoking ancestral wisps; communing with trees and unseen circles of elders; drawing invisible threads, pulling and weaving on the stage part-queen, part-Crone - this theatrical ritual ceremony made total sense to me. It was a reckoning. Her still presence commanded all attentions, transfixing and unsettling in equal measure. She knew something we didn’t know. She could see inside and through me. That was the feeling she created for me.
The medieval feel of the concert was very different from your usual outdoor festival and I was impressed that they managed to create the intimacy of a faerie banquet in the woods at the Gunnersbury Park. The drummer Jean-Marc Butty, was also a revelation, and has brought me down a rabbit hole of Haitian drumming that I am sure I will circle back to very soon.
There is something for me to learn about performance from her grounded presence. Her almost “insistent unafraid”. There was a quiet fury to her performance, but also a playfulness, and a mystery. It was remarkable. As someone who is trying to challenge my performance anxiety head-on, it has given me a lot to think about. The job of performance is to hold the attention and space. She told us she was mysterious and commanding by using her body language, her all-knowing stare. We believed her. I looked around and the entire park were staring back at her.
Big Thief also took to the stage earlier that day, and I was incredibly excited to see them live. I had Buck Meek to thank for my forthcoming song, as I wrote it on his incredible workshop. Adrienne Lenker appeared to me to be on the edge of tears at the start of the gig. I felt her holding back a well ready to spill, I felt irritation and anger emanating, but I didn’t hear it when she spoke to the audience, telling us she loves us all. I know that there have been changes in their band, and I imagine the pressures of travelling and touring take their toll. The performance was electric. It did make me consider the other side of the coin of creativity: the struggle and the toil that seem to be an inevitable part of ‘making it’.
My takeaways from this day out - play with movement in performance. See what it’s like to sing standing still, to sing moving around. Play with this, and take the next step - perform. It’s now or never.
This week has been pretty wild, on all fronts!
I was scrolling through Instagram stories and saw my old friend Hudson Mohawke thanking Rihanna for using his song in her latest Fenty ad. “Impressive!” I thought to myself, as I went to swipe on, but then I heard my own little chipmunk rap voice flowing, whilst Rihanna gracefully drew herself a sexy new lip…and I was very confused!
Long story short, this little tune we made in 2006 in his bedroom in Scotland was released during the pandemic on his mixtape B.B.H.E (which stands for Big Booty Hiking Expedition - I am sure there is a story there, I have no idea what it is but sounds like it might have been fun?!)
This song has a life of it's own and I love it. I think it resonates with people because the of the spirit it was made in: completely youthful, tongue-in-cheek, off-the-cuff fun. When I think of ‘flow state’ this is it.
It makes me smile because you can hear all of my own younger self influences in there - I was raised on Da Brat, TLC, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, etc… and I think I was channeling my teenage self, laughing at myself, having the craic, and it was magic.
As I haven't spoken to Ross in a minute, I ended up stalking his IG for a second and going down a wild rabbit hole of music, late to the party listening to BRAT which will tell you just how far under my rock I am living right now, Charlie xcx's awesome podcast ‘BEST SONG EVER’, discovering a new interesting label, and revisiting the incredible SOPHIE.
So shout-out to RiRi and Ross and the team at Warp for giving this ‘lil tune another run around the block. I’m here for collabs whenever, obviously… (kidding not kidding ;))
A while back I applied for a mentorship program through ‘Minding Creative Minds’ because truth be told, I have been feeling isolated and alone with my goals for my music, which I am trying to honour as I stare down the barrel of my 40th birthday this year, so when I came across this opportunity I filled out the online form and forgot all about it!
Imagine my surprise when I got an email from Harry Martin, Director of Domino Records. Yes, only the Domino Records that I wrote in the no. 1 slot in my notebook when I allowed myself to fantasise about my top ten dream label signings recently in a brain-mapping exercise.
Our first meeting was just to get to know each other and I felt immediately at ease in his company, I am so grateful to have been assigned a mentor, and certain I will benefit from the perspectives he can share with me. It definitely helps me to maintain focus - so catching those few moments to brainstorm or record voice note ideas is not always easy. I am surrounded by my wonderful children and dogs, and a cat…for a moment…who the kids called Pancake Lucky Burger.
Anyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for a stray animal, and my 4 year-old daughter has been building her ‘’get a kitty" campaign with zeal, so I could not resist when a black cat popped up in one of the parent groups, looking for a home. We took in the cat, but I had to check if it had a family and judging by how chill it was with my kids, I figured it did as it was not too bothered being thrown over my daughters arm, and was content to sleep in my bed next to me on day one. Turns out Pancake Lucky Burger has a fam, his real name is Georgie, and he's gone back home.
There is a kitten-shaped hole in my daughter's heart now so if anyone has a spare hypoallergenic creature going, please get in touch!
I have two songs coming out in August.
The first is a song for Palestine as anyone who knows me also knows that I, like many others, am deeply concerned about the welfare and survival of the Palestinian people. Any proceeds from the track will be donated. More information shortly…
The second is a song called ‘Wildflower’ that I created with the support of an incredible Buck Meek workshop I took with School of Song, recommended to me by the lovely Sarah O'Mahony at Wavefield Recordings. I learnt a great deal about using images as prompts in these sessions, and also found some community, and added a lot of great new music to my playlist on Spotify. If you have a burning desire to make music or learn about the industry, check out the offerings at School of Song! Watch this space for release dates.
A polite ask: If you are working in the industry and are interested in getting early access to this song for radio play or coverage, please don't be shy like me! I would be very happy to have a chat and your support for new independent Irish music is so appreciated!
So a couple of weird universe nudges are moving me forward and I see a crossroads ahead as I try to discern whether I need to ‘get a real job’ or can find a way to pursue my passion and go ‘all in’.
Things happen in threes, so I wonder what is next?
Sx
Hello!
The time has finally come to find my own tiny corner of the internet where I can share my music, musings and news with you. It has been a long time in the thinking, and is finally in the making.
I have wanted to create and share music since I was a little dot. When I was sixteen I sang a support slot for a band in a small bar in Knysna, crippled with performance anxiety and fear. Karma-Ann Swanepoel of Henry Ate told me “there is a place for you” and it's only now that I feel ready to step into it.
After a couple of devastating losses and uncertainties over the last few years, I feel compelled now to lean into this desire to create. This comes along with all the self-doubts and angsts that putting yourself ‘out there’ usually involves, so please be kind. As an introvert I have found this aspect particularly challenging. The gremlins are loud but the music is louder. I am sharing this journey as I develop and grow as a writer and singer, and hope you will come along with me!
That's it from me, but I would love to hear from you! What are you doing/thinking/feeling/reading/seeing? Answers on a postcard.
Until next time….
