I'm afraid I have been procrastinating rather a lot about writing my blog. And like anything, the longer you leave it, the bigger the job becomes. And so I have rather a lot to talk about and it's fairly daunting. So where shall I start? Past, present or future?

Ok, the present: I am listening to Rozi Plain and eating a Pear. Both of which I have been doing a lot of lately. Rozi is providing me with the sound track to my life at the moment, which I realised while jogging the other day singing along to "I live on my own...I move on my own...I ride on my own....It's nice on my own..." And I felt really happy and I can't recommend her new album enough. (My happiness was however deflated at finding while jogging my door key had cut through the ribbon around my neck, resulting in an embarrassing  trip across Tokyo on the underground, muddy, sweaty, and decked out in skimpy jogging shorts, to get Naoki's key!)

Pears are tasty. This isn't a Japanese pear however. Japanese pears provide me with a certain amount of confusion as they look like russet apples. They are very crunchy and very juicy. Miwako's mother presented me with one when I arrived at the flat in Tokyo two weeks ago. After two days of air travel and body clock confusion it was the best thing she could have given me.

There's lots about travelling that confuses me. For example, the things you learn to do on auto pilot: open the door, switch on the light. Well after three and a half months away somewhere entirely different, I've found it's these little things that you forget how to do. How does that door handle work and where's that light switch?! I'm pleased to say however that after all this towing and frowing, much to my surprise, my Japanese phrases have come back. And now I'm adding to my basic Japanese by hanging out with Eri. We are being each other's language teachers. The lessons are best when washed down with ume shu! And now I can say "Ashta watashi wa gi-densha no swimming pool iki mashita" which I think means yesterday I cycled to the swimming pool. But Eri will probably put me right tomorrow!

Ok and now for the past.

The summer back in Bristol has swooped and flown without me paying much attention to its watery movements. Many days of the season have been spent underground in Bristol while I've been intensively recording and mixing my new album After the ant Fight with Ali Chant at Toybox Studios. Intensive it was due to the time schedule, having to have it ready for these three months in Japan. At times it felt like a strain but I managed to stay jovial, mainly thanks to everyone I was working on it with. Ali was really supportive and fun to work with and I was really lucky to have so many musical friends in Bristol to play on the songs with me. Quite a lot of it was recorded live. Here's Ieuan Pearse on his bike with his drums the day we recorded the piano songs with live drums at The Folkhouse.


Here I am at the Joanna


And here's me and Ali mixing underground at Toy Box Studios

Others who played on it with me were Will (Wig Smith) on kora ukelele and singing, Andi Skellam playing banjo and singing, Rozi Plain sining, Francois Marry playing trumpet, Jean Marc playing bass, Will's mum on bassoon and Ali bashing the cymbals. Everyone played so well and it was a really fun and fulfilling time. I have to say though that I have been suffering from a hefty dose of exhaustion since arriving back in Japan, having finished the mixing quickety split on the day before catching my plane.

It's odd, the anti climax you get which I think is brought on by exhaustion. I've had it before. For a week here I didn't want to listen to my album. Actually for a while I think I might have hated it. I'm pleased to say though I've come around. I have finished sewing hundreds of ants for my album artwork, I have been out dancing, I have bought two dresses in the charity shop across the road, and I'm feeling myself again.

Actually I'm excited, not only about my album, but excited too about The Hand album Berries from the Rubble that Will (Wig Smith) and I recorded (also during this summer) in Carrie and John's self-built house. Will came to stay while everyone had gone on holiday and we recorded it in one week, fuelling ourselves with good hearty meals, harvesting the yellow corgettes and beans from the garden, and walking in the rain to pick sage for a throat soothing drink that we got hooked on.

Here is the Self-Build project where I was living this summer


The house is in St Werburghs, my favourite part of Bristol. There's a city farm round the corner. Here's a friendly pig we became acquainted with after tossing an apple over the fence


Here's us recording in the garden from a doves perspective. The song is called Dove Come Rain and I put the camera on the bird table where the fat doves tend to spend their days!


I took a bit of a back seat while Will did the computery bits!


On the album we play lots of instruments: kora, banjo, ukelele, guitar, clarinet, harmoium, piano, auto harp and percussion, and we sing lots of harmonies. Will grew up in the cathedral choir (not that he'd like me to disclose such a thing); and he's a lovely singer. It's nice to feel such a defined difference between The Hand's music and my own. Will is the first person I've ever been able to write songs with. We'll start with an idea and the idea seems to take itself off on an adventure, and then we have a song that neither of us own and it feels liberating.

So here's the future bit!

Will is coming to Japan in December and we are going to go on tour with Naoto Kawate which I'm really looking forward to. Will is leaving Bristol at the beginning of November to travel to Japan not by air, but by land and sea, across Russia on the Transiberian Railway.

Will's not my only future visitor. In October my good friends Kate and Jesse of This is the kit and Morning Star are coming here and I'll tour with them for three weeks. Me and Kate as Whalebone Polly might have a few tricks up our sleeve too! Here's us playing in the Scout Hut a few months back...


And for November my sister Betsy is coming to visit and we have a music/animation collaboration in the planning.

In the near future I am on my sewing machine to up my stocks before the Apple seed tour where I am running workshops and playing 3 gigs in Kyu Shu. Soon after that I'll be playing with Gontiti at some bigger venues, and then touring with kate and Jesse, and our tour will finish with an Album Launch/Goodbye Kate and Jesse and Mo night.

In fear that I will not only tire out myself with this epic blog, but tire you out too, I'm going to finish now with some photographic evidence of some more highlights of my summer. Much fun was had at Camp Bestival (especially early hours outdoor piano fun) and Truck Festival with Rozi and Will and Francois. I even poked my head into the countryside a few times to see how green and luscious England is when it rains everyday!