In 2013 I enrolled in  a song-writing course at the ICMP in North London. The idea was that we all sat around and talked about the songs we liked, songs we didn’t like, the common ways songs were constructed and some of the nuances you could employ.

The best thing that came out of it for me, was the suggestion that you could write songs from different angles. I always started with the guitar and worked my lyrics around the rhythm/melody. ‘Sometimes’ was created with a basic shape and lyric structure before the guitar was picked up. The assignment was ‘Identity’ and I wanted to explore the feeling of being an outsider. I moved around a lot when I was little, from Ireland to Scotland and then onto London….the notion of identity has always been something I have found fascinating as my own is not entirely clear.

Another one in open D, recorded on my little Zoom personal recorder, in my bedroom with my buddy Russell manning the acoustic bass. I really like this one and think it has an authenticity that is hard to recreate.

As always….enjoy.

Tx