Well here we are, at the end of another year (and another decade!)… and for better or worse, I seem to have made a fair bit of music this year! Some of it is just now seeing the light of day… so I may as well write a bit about it here…
While for the past few years the bulk of my output has been solo work of various kinds, this year the theme seems to have been collaboration. Alongside playing a supporting role on a number of albums by friends (Alexandra Spencer, Conor Kilkelly, Martina Gebhardt and others) I was also involved in and/or spearheaded several projects that were more personal in nature. The first of these was Still Waters, a follow-up to 2007`s eponymous album by my “contemplative jazz” trio, Stillness3.
Stillness3 is a trio of jazz musicians founded on the idea of playing less notes with more intention. It’s meditative, contemplative, calm, spacious, slow, patient and thoughtful. I worked very hard on this album and I’m quite proud of how it turned out. There’s a short selection of video excerpts from the session, which is a nice introduction to the project…
The second project, Owl Cave Dreams, is quite different, and is kind of the culmination of my long history with electronic and especially ambient music, It*s a duo with an old friend, guitarist and pedalboard maestro Chalice Phoenix. We are calling it “psychedelic ambient” and while I’ve made electronic and ambient-ish music before, these deep collaborative journeys through landscapes of tone and texture are quite unlike any other music I’ve made…
Both projects are also available to stream on Soundcloud, and soon on major streaming platforms as well…