Regular visitors (hi Mum!) will notice I’ve given my website a little refresh in recent weeks, and now seems as good a time as any to introduce a blog page to share some musings on music and the arts, my work with (and without) Paraorchestra, along with anything else that interests me more generally. I have no real plan for this, so let’s just see how it goes, shall we? There will be no humblebrag announcements, no relentless streams of ‘look at wot I did’ posts - simply a desire to communicate in written English instead of crotchets and quavers for a change.

As we begin the seventh week of lockdown in the UK, I realise one of the benefits of confinement has been more time to listen to music. As I’m not performing live at the minute (and don’t expect I will be anytime soon) I’ve enjoyed discovering a raft of music both familiar and unfamiliar to me. Much of the unfamiliar has been through a joint playlist created with an old school friend who has impeccably trendy tastes in a broad range of stuff from Billie Eilish to Arvo Pärt. One track each per day, it’s been a joyous way to reconnect with him and his musical tastes as they are now; we had somewhat fallen out of touch prior to this crisis.

Judging by the WhatsApp groups pinging away on my phone more often than usual, it seems we’re not the only ones on a quest of discovering new music on YouTube, Spotify, Bandcamp and SoundCloud - I’ve been sent dozens of track recommendations. And on Friday, I woke up to a message that made me jolt out of bed with excitement. Dom Coyote and Alex Lupo, both extraordinarily talented and generous artists who defy categorisation, released their first EP, Rituals.1, into the world.

Ritual 01 by Lupo | Coyote, released 01 May 2020 1. All Clear 2. Telegraph Hill 3. Banshee's Toot 4. Dulcimer Peggs 5. Experiment 0

I first heard the glorious, finished product on the same day as everyone else, but the middle trio of tracks on the record were already pretty familiar as they feature some bass clarinet playing by yours truly. I feel proud to count Dom and Alex as dear friends - and it was a privilege to contribute to their first recording venture together. I’ll let their stunning, often beguiling music speak for itself, and if you like what you hear then please can I urge you to buy a digital copy of the album? It’s name your own price.

I should imagine it’s not an easy time to release music - live touring and all the attendant promotion is out of the question at the moment of course - so I do hope you’ll consider a show of your appreciation. Happy listening at the link below.