From an early age, I have been moved more by song than any other medium. Music and lyrics seem to me to produce their own dialogue, with tension or harmony, conflict or resolution. Songs have everything; I can celebrate, address social causes or heal personal hurts, all in a four minute form.  

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I feel deeply connected to the world around me when I write and compose. I relish expressing heightened feelings, positive and negative, in a way not found in everyday conversation. I love it when a room is united by a passionate chorus or when one individual tells me that a song touched them and they no longer felt alone. My goal every time is to connect with that audience, that individual.

 

I am often asked which comes first, words or music? The answer is both. I take note of phrases that catch my ear; my world is full of notebooks, index cards and lists. This could be when reading about topics I really care about, such as the environment or injustice, but can happen when I overhear a conversation in a coffee shop. I also hear melodies pretty much all the time, many of them, queuing in my head, vying for attention.

 

When I sit to compose, a phrase and a melody come together and the embryo of a song is born. The idea may progress quickly or take years to brew. On rare occasions lyric and melody arrive together in the night and it's a race to get it all down before it evaporates. To make a song truly vivid I envisage myself at the heart of the story. Writing about nature I become the oak tree or the flooding river. Writing about love, I become the jilted or avenging lover. Then there's craft; I love the craft. I hone the words, the melody, the arrangement, the phrasing of all the parts until I believe the song will touch the audience and the individual.

 

Themes and concepts emerge over periods of time, sometimes years. As I've got older, I've wanted more and more to drop the mask of polite conformity I've felt expected to uphold. Recently my songs have taken a darker turn as I explore the worlds of myth, fairy tale and the seven deadly sins, the dreadful, shadowy deeds and desires found there. I find great joy and relief in telling the truth.