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July! We’re half way through the year! It’s going super fast isn’t it? I really can’t get over what a funny thing Time is. On a large-scale (long-scale?) it’s too complicated to even try and grasp it… years and moons and revolutions and clocks.. I’m glad someone else is in charge. But even on a small scale – how can one Tuesday seem so long and another Tuesday feel so short? Or when I play one of my tracks to someone, those 3 minutes are so unreliable… the speed of the music changes. Sometimes I find the recording painfully slow, other times it sounds to me like we recorded on speed – just depending on who I’m listening with, how nervous I am, what mood we’re in. Everything is so bloomin’ subjective.

Good morning. Or good afternoon (you see, time is tricky). So I’m back from Paris and it already seems years ago. At least that way I have a bit of perspective and won’t bore you with the boring bits, only the stories that remain vivid in my mind… Like when we did the showcase for the album launch and the venue wasn’t ready! The new venue, called Le Buzz, was supposed to open a few days before, but it wasn’t finished so ours became the very first show there – I’ve never taken a venue’s virginity before. We arrived to a construction site! They were still welding the bar while we were sound-checking…(loud). And we had to use the toilet in the pizza place next door! People around me were panicking slightly, but I thought it added an edge to the audience experience. Industrial-Folk… It was a fun show. Just so damn hot (no air-conditioning yet). I really felt ridiculous singing Winter in that tropical heat. Ok maybe I don’t have that much perspective on the trip yet, to be talking about the room temperature!

So now I’m back in London (definitely not complaining about the heat). I played for Poejazzi at the E4 Udderbelly last night. Don’t ask me why the Southbank needs an upside-down purple cow venue, but the event itself was wonderful. Poejazzi and some other word/music collectives like Book Slam embraced me pretty early on, and I really love playing for them. It’s always fresh, it frames the songs in a different context. People really listen. I got a little nervous last night playing my folksy (everything is relative..) ditties in the predominantly hip hop/ spoken word line-up. So I thought I’d better face my fears head-on and did a cover of Let’s Talk About Sex by Salt’n’Pepa.. I only fluffed up the rap once! And I was so impressed with all the other acts. I knew nothing about Yungun before and he really blew me away.. humble, playful, thought-provoking. I really related to his track Middle Man, about being a mixed-race male. Go figure…