The less I write the less I feel like I can write.

It’s been a while since my last newsletter to my friends, partly because I’ve been stuck away doing things and and otherwise because I’ve been hiding*. In the newsletter that follows, there are links to some fantastic musical moments and recordings of concerts that have been heart-filling since last email in January.

I had a very different image of what the interim time would be like, and it's strange to think how time has gone in this period. These newsletters give me a cyclical sense of time and a connection to my community that feels helpful; I love the slow response email threads I have ongoing that intersect with these mailouts. Each time I sit and recall what I've been up to, I think about what's coming up, and who is reading this. Between the past email and this one, I’ve been slowly hibernating, trying to get writing off the ground, and finding it harder than I expected this year.

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My album launch at Tempo Rubato was the most beautiful moment. Here’s the recording of the concert.

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I played a short new work called Windings at the IWD concert at Monash. Concert recording here. It was a beautiful lunchtime spent with some incredible musicians I am delighted to have as colleagues and friends.

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My dear dear friend and collaborator Mike Mulshine came to Melbourne, and we had a beauuuutiful time having a house concert with Sofia Carbonara, Niran Dasika, Andrew Saragossi, at the most wonderful lunchtime concert at Monash with Pat Jaffe, Liam Bailie and Niran Dasika in Melbourne and Mike far away… At a distance, near and far, some birds in cans made beautiful music. Cat Hope wrote the most warming review, which I would love to share with you here, because it brought so much joy to me. It’s been great to be able to bring my worlds of music into one and the wholling of that experience is one I cherish.

"This performance had a clear sensation of loss, longing and friendship that permeated the entire 45 minutes of music making. It is remarkable, really, how this was achieved - it was in the spirit of the thing, the music, the way of being. It felt like we - the audience - we looking in to something very private, and we relate. I havn’t seen anything like it." - excerpt from Cat Hope's review of the concert​

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It’s been nice recently to get together with people to write, or to hunker down in the feeling of solitude and brewing on the words. Recently, hanging out with some new friends, H.M., M.,D. and T.B., I made this little one-floor work…. In the middle of not flying all over the place, sitting in place, trying to write, I’ve been wondering if I can work out a one floor train-able setup….Here’s some fun times from the weekend for your weekend.

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As I write this, I’m preparing for an exciting week of an upcoming residency and concert at WAAPA, and at the end of May, another collaboration with CCRMA composers, Mike, Celeste and Nick following the premiere of a new work: Frames of Reference. Hopefully the slow building up of room for writing to happen starts to take shape between now and the next letter out to you which I hope isn’t too long from now.

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And while I miss my Adelaide home, my dear Friend Reuben Lewis is performing Story of Another Soul with spoken word poet Huda Fadlelmawla Saturday 18 May, 8pm–9pm at Nexus Arts Centre, where I was delighted to be late last year, playing the Ocean, Again record, reunited with friends and hearing Chloe Kim's stunning drumset solo. An avid follower of the work that Emily, Kira and the Nexus crew continue to do with the beautiful space, and warmed to hear of this gig. Adelaide Friends, Reuben's show's details here​

I hope the autumn or spring is rolling sweetly for all.

Iran x

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* A fragmented or stretched way to get through, spread as thin as vegemite, Andrea Keller has a composition about this feeling and the when I heard it I was in the start of the feeling I’m in the middle of now. In Adelaide (and maybe everywhere?) it’s Mad March because of all of the festivals and this past March felt the maddest of them all. If what I’m sharing in a newsletter isn’t asking for attendance, the deadline to send the newsletter is easier to push further back… I guess that’s why it’s been a while?