Of the bird called carduelis carduelis, there are hundreds of very clear appearances in religious and secular art - if you fancy some better-researched renaissance info, Herbert Friedmann has the book for you, called The Symbolic Goldfinch. But I didn’t know about any of this when I wrote a poem, years ago, one morning.
Song Stories: The New Direction It starts in Lucerne, Switzerland, where I’m interrailing with a couple of school buddies. In the middle of an unscheduled, ramshackle journey we find a very chilled point by the Lake. There’s a music fest happening nearby, and the only act I remember now are AK4711, an all-female German band… Continue reading Build the World You See in Your Head
The album opener is ‘Kingfishers Catch Fire’, a song I've been trying to harness for years. Though it got a 2020 update, the lyric was mostly written in 2014, whirling out of me with caffeinated ease in a single session...
Back once again! Thanks for caring enough about what I'm up to to give me your valuable reading minutes. This post will have a new song from me, inspired by a study of apocalyptic literature (FUN!) and making a rookie error identifying some wildlife in Devon. But that's to come - first, something you might've… Continue reading Her Likeness Appeared at Dawn, And By Dawn Had Vanished
“It is so like meTo dream of better places” I’ve been doing a strange kind of hibernating – the kind that happens in the full flush of springtime. It began when nuthatches were building their nests, under that canopy of trees near my home. We discovered new walking routes then, every possible walk within thirty… Continue reading To Dream of Better Places
While we're staying in, many of us will be enjoying the fruits of creative people's labours. Let's support them directly via Bandcamp, and more...
We go to cinemas for a different view of the world we live in, or to visit an imagined world and escape the laws by which this one's bound. Like the best films, Mati Diop's Grand Prix-winning film Atlantics satisfies both longings.
In which my post-sleep brain comes to life in the company of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's genius; we consider the internal monologue of St Cecilia; and my new music project is announced.
It’s a kaleidoscope of widescreen keyboards, arpeggiators and drums, into which axewoman Jenn Wasner injects high-voltage bliss at perfectly judged moments. Several points on the album made me inwardly conclude 'ah, this is what music should be'.
As fuzz, distortion and stacked harmonies recur, you can tell Middle Kids are throwing everything into their debut.
Culture Me Up 