Had 6 days in Barcelona with Peter Schwalm working on our Winter record. We’re both finding it a relief to have someone to share the workload/inspiration/stress with. It’s nearly done, and as always the final stretch is the hardest – the 90% perspiration bit. Having a ‘frame’ to work within (in our case the general idea of Winter) means the decision-making process is much easier than if everything had been abstract, and some of the potential ego-clashes (my bit vs your bit) goes out the window in favour of something impersonal (wintery or not?).It’s been interesting to work with a synthesiser player as good as Peter, as I have an inbuilt aversion to keyboards that I often struggle to overcome. But we agreed to use real piano, drums and obviously guitar, which has given the electronic sounds a ‘space’ of their own.