When I finished my second album Collateral I took stock of what I’d done with my music and where I wanted it to go next. I know that all sounds rather grand, if not a bit pompous, but if I was going to continue to write songs and record them I wanted some direction.

My first album, Present Tense, was essentially a collection of songs that were ready. New or old I had them written and the album was an exercise if putting those down and releasing them. It was as simple or as complicated as that.

For my second album, Collateral, I wanted a bit more direction. Collateral is a collection of mainly love songs. I think it’s a more positive album than Present Tense and because I had learnt such a lot recording the first album I came to the second with more confidence. What I didn’t account for was my health falling through the floorboards so writing and recording the album took much, much longer than I had originally planned.

Still, I’m very pleased with the result. A number of people have commented that they prefer Collateral to Present Tense and I think that’s because the subject matter is more focused and the recording and production is better.

So, the question is where do I go next. The answer is my third album The Lessons. I am literally going to take the lessons I’ve learnt writing and recording two albums and bring them to this new project. The subject matter will be slightly darker, the songs more pointed and poignant and hopefully the recording will be better. If my health holds up the album should be ready towards the end of 2024.

I already have 12 songs mapped out, the basic ideas and structures are there. What they now need is the huge amount of time and effort it takes to bring them together. As with all the songs I’ve released I will play all the instruments and sing all the vocals. It’s not that I don’t want anyone else involved it’s because I really enjoy the challenge of putting all those sound together, especially as I really am a very limited musician.

I still have a full time job and then there’s the amount of time and effort it takes to continue to promote what I’ve already released, let alone the project I’ve taken on helping to promote other indie artists and the Clip Bait playlist. So with these commitments and just living life I’ve got my hands full to get 12 songs ready for the end of the year.

I released the first song from The Lessons in December, Just To Be With You, and it’s been very successful having already passed 30,000 streams on Spotify alone. I hope you’ll stick around to hear the other eleven.

As always, thank you so much for supporting me so far and taking the time to listen to my music, I really do appreciate it.