Tales Of A Far Away Land

After a few months of desperately trying to find inspiration for new material, I am now midway through three new songs. I guess it takes time to draw ideas together, to collect my thoughts and to get it all down on paper in song format. A huge amount of inspiration came from playing with The Laish Quartet and And The Bear the other week - both enchanting artists. It's also timed well that I have watched some powerful and completely original films and television over the last few weeks, and that the BBC is lulling its way through some form of poetry week.

The three new songs each have a different style, both compared to one another, and to my old material, although I feel the vocal style I am developing has continued through them all. I am also finding, perhaps intentionally, that certain key themes are emerging in my more recent work. I'm feeling incredibly positive about how these new pieces will slot into my current set and hope that the range of styles that I'm now working with will only serve to create a more rounded performance.

I wrote a while ago about an artists responsibility to try and leave their impression on the world around them and how I felt that I had a responsibility to question the 'democratic' society we are currently living in. (This is all the more relevant what with all the press at the moment surrounding MPs expenses) My lyrics recently have reflected my feelings on the subject and have focused on lovers running away, searching for meaning, and I have gone into careful detail to paint images of bliss and happiness where a couple have escaped from the rest of society.

I think the idea of freedom - I mean complete freedom - scares the guys at the top. The idea that you could attempt to live under their radar, in a space where they will know nothing about you or what you do completely terrifies them and I think that's an interesting idea.

It's pure escapism but I hope that others will find the ideas inspirational and that, instead of wallowing in despair at what they see around them, find themselves leaving it all behind and finding what makes them and those close to them happy.

on a slightly separate note - i mentioned above that i had been catching bits and pieces of the bbcs poetry week which has been leading me to wonder, exactly where does poetry fit into modern life? it's all around us - you'd be surprised.