Sometimes the only way to get a substantial piece of work done is to physically remove yourself from all the potential distractions. So I’ve spent the last couple of days holed up in a cottage on the Isle of Lismore hiding from the (mostly) rain and driving wind, editing the session tapes from June. By the end of yesterday I had 83 minutes of music, and by the time I’d listened to it all in the car on the way back – and driving through Glencoe is an excellent way to appraise a bunch of fiddle and pipe music – I’d pretty much decided what was being cut and what was staying. And I was glad to still be alive after an unnerving crossing on the tiny ferry in very strong wind against the very strong tide. Anyhow, over a coffee at Meadow Road this afternoon (served by one of my ex-students, just back from the US!) I wrote down my thoughts on the tracks, and the album could turn out to be as short as 48 minutes - that’s two sides of vinyl isn’t it? - with lots of bonus tracks to be distributed by other means. The second edit and mix are still to come, but in the meantime I think it’s a very good sign that while editing the dance music my feet rarely stopped moving.

the view from (and of) my edit suite