Hello all and welcome to 2026!
No, it’s not a joke. I wrote these words several months ago intending to post on here in January. Now it seems that I blinked and it’s March already! Is anyone else stuck in this same time warp? Are your emails rolling in like a wave or an earthquake? The journey here has not exactly been smooth for any of us, right?
Before we look back, though, let’s look forward!
I am beyond excited to be speaking at SXSW, Austin next week on a panel discussing Access to XR. Including going zero to Atmos via Real World Studios to create The End Times album! Join us at UK House as part of the UK XR Takeover at 2pm, Tuesday 17th March- ALLL of the details are here.
So grateful to Paraorchestra and British Underground for inviting me on this trip! We have so many incredible meetings set up alongside exploring the full glory of the XR programme. Not only that, our hotel has (whisper it) a rooftop pool…! This looks to be the trip of a lifetime.
As we move into April, I can’t wait to return to Classical:NEXT in Budapest to speak on a lovely panel with Sally Currie from Drake Music and Helen Edwards and Siobhan Clough from Paraorchestra. And the new roborecorder will be in ACTION on its first ever overseas voyage! Put April 9th at 1200 in your diary now- details here.
So that takes care of the future, but how about the past? Since the world’s in chaos, here’s some distraction: a whistlestop tour of the last 6 months. Warning: contains toilet references.
SEPTEMBER: I ventured to Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg: my final in person sessions with our lovely Keychange Talent Leadership Programme cohort.
Featuring me rolling around on the floor in agony in various glamorous locations with very important people having slipped a disc tidying my studio in early September. Irina even had to tie my shoelaces at one point.
Have you ever found yourself stuck on the floor, pulsating pain coursing down your legs, unable to move? I have. I certainly don’t recommend it. On the plus side, I now know how to use the toilet standing up! Standing up did have some bonuses. I was making myself highly obvious hovering over my food at a restaurant and the amazing singer Ella Beck heard our discussion and came over and introduced herself! Turns out I have a lot in common with my musical name double, we had a lovely chat!
OCTOBER: Slightly more mobile, I was super excited to sit down (!) to be interviewed at Dolby HQ about the recording of The End Times in Atmos! You can check out the interview here with all of the geeky 3D recording details you always wanted to know but didn’t dare to ask!
We then spent most of the month up on a fluffy pink cloud writing and recording Spiral Dial Series 5 (!). Mixing is still under way, and I hope to get this finished soon (famous last words) As I post this, we are just about up to date and you can listen to the latest episode now!
NOVEMBER: It was an honour to be invited to speak at the AEC conference in Salzburg- a lovely vibe and beautiful historic castle studded with more Mozarts than you could ever imagine. Cardboard, chocolate, plastic, cake… the whole LOT. I couldn’t help imagining, what if Mozart travelled forward in time and could witness this spectacle? I would love to be there to see his face. It was also lovely to catch up with Monica from my Keychange cohort, founder of the Artistic Intelligence Service, and the wonderful Mimi Harmer, who were speaking at many sessions as president and vice-president of EPASA. Just too many good people in one room!
You can watch a recording of my presentation here, including memories of my early musical education at the hands of revolutionary anticapitalist lesbians.
I then returned to the UK to speak at the Audio Developer conference in Bristol on a wonderful panel at the invitation of Drake Music. Our team also aced the music tech section of the conference quiz, against all expectations. I returned with the best ever free conference T shirt in the history of T shirts. Highly recommended.
DECEMBER: It may have been cold and dark outside but inside I had the pleasure of interviewing wonderful composers and collaborators Todd Barton and CHAINES about their work and contributions to the Spiral Dial universe- check out the results on my YouTube channel!
Next stop, UWE in Bristol to create a NEW shiny wireless roborecorder with tech whiz Tom Mitchell of MiMU glove fame- more on this very soon!
JANUARY: Precious time to play with new ideas on a fabulous three day Paraorchestra R&D ‘Open Loop’ with Stu McAllum from The Breath, playing with pedals and exploring his truly inspirational live setup. We established that I am still essentially a software person, and he had some pretty epic insight to give on that front too. In particular totally obsessed with his take on reverse delay!
Hot on the heels of this adventure, we performed The End Times at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on the 27th January. Also LOVED giving a composition seminar on the 26th January for RNCM students. What wonderful ideas they all have. Spoiler: science was involved!
FEBRUARY: As we slide nearer to the actual present, we literally JUST completed R&D work for my new and shiny project at LSO St Lukes supported by the Paraorchestra Alumni Fund. It was such a pleasure to be together in one room with a truly wonderful group of people. I’m really proud of what we achieved. We have been hard at work creating a much needed musical antidote to propaganda! The footage and photos are really looking stunning and I can’t wait to share more details of this with you in its very own blog very very soon.
And now here we are, in the dystopian present, and my back is (fingers crossed!) not hurting! I can’t believe I missed posting about some of these things at the time, but frankly, alongside the Sciatica Saga, it was enough to focus on DOING.
Thank you for joining me on this very brief winter highlights tour! I’m sending you many, many purrs from Anarres studio before heading off on my travels, and hope to update you sooner rather than later with all of the behind the scenes details.
