I have been lucky enough to work with a range of musicians and producers who have helped put music to my words. I'm still learning the intricacies of this art form and trying to define it in my mind. Here you can find links to collaborations with Joe Will at Herald Music Productions, Echoes and Edges, Jon Scott, and Sean Davey.
Like Trying To Speak - Joe Will/Herald Music Productions
[extraxt from] Collision and Other Forms of Love - Echoes and Edges
Echoes and Edges create sonic worlds inspired by poetry. I had the opportunity to offer some of my words for them to improvise over. It was a pleasure to hear how the words animated and took on fresh expresssion as a result of their work.
Leaden Tussel - Collaboration with Jon Scott
Psychic Strain - Collaboration with Sean Davey
I have compiled a short e-book of poems to mark Mental Health Awareness Week. You can download it here
This collection of poems is an anomaly for I do not write anymore, or at least that is what I have been telling myself. Capturing thoughts and sensations is a challenge, there was a time when I called myself a poet, certainly I used to love attempting to communicate my experiences through poetry. I always enjoyed the abstract nature of a poem and its capacity for multiple and deep meaning making. However after a period of psychosis, where I was immersed in a state of utter confusion and loneliness, I could not put pen to paper. It was as though the rug had been pulled out from underneath me and nothing I could say had any meaning.
As I have been traveling the hard road of recovery through anxiety and depression I have tried to reclaim my love for writing, slowly I am writing again. I have been struggling to express myself and share my experiences this creates a profound feeling of isolation, even in company.
These poems were written out of the desire to express the depth of feeling in me and a longing to reach out and share something incomprehensible, asking all the while ‘am I the only one?’ knowing I am not. Poetry is good for bringing thoughts into the light, when I write from this place I am mindful of the beat generations mantra ‘first thought best thought’, to write in such a way can open the flood gates and be cathartic.
