In a few days’ time I will be going into studio with producer Ethan Johns, bass player Jon Thorne and pianist Neil Cowley to make album number 6.
The writing for this album happened in what felt like a frenzy, most of the songs coming through in an intense six-month writing period between December 2022 and May 2023. The songs are each introduced by a spoken-word prologue, which is often the contents of my stream-of-consciousness free writing that preceded the song’s emergence in my morning pages. I delivered 22 of these songs+prologues to Ethan expecting some kind of cull, but at the time of writing there is an intention to record 20 of them (he dropped one, I dropped one). A shared vision begins to coalesce for some kind of extended long-form work. I bridled at this initially, but now I collapse into it with gratitude and joy.
Much depends on what we make, so I pack for studio with an open mind and a never-before-felt trust in the process.