Just got back from a week in Belfast recording with David Holmes. Great progress is being made on the album, which now features tracks that sound like a cross between Tom Waits, Public Image and Neu. On bass this time was Tim Harries, an old friend of mine from Eno’s band, in which he played so well that it often used to make me miss my cues, slack-jawed as I was in amazement. Anyway, David seemed very happy as Tim rumbled and I skronked away through various obscure plug-ins. In other ways the session was unusual – all done in David’s funky home studio (details in a previous entry), set up in a different rooms shouting through to each other and surrounded with spaghetti-junction-like leads and the music playing at ear-splitting volume. It was great! Also thanks to the kind-hearted music shop guy who gave us a lift in his car but then farted every 2 miles without fail, and the kid who terrorised the poor punters in the Errigle Arms with foul-mouthed ringtones…

Before that adventure, I finished mixing tracks I’ve been producing for the charming and eccentric up-coming Norwegian chanteuse Kari Kleiv. With characteristic last-minute inspiration she inserted a spoken-word middle 8 – in Japanese. Nice!

A strangely fragmented week. Did a session for Fred Ball (Pleasure), the Norwegian keyboard professor; started a record with the absurdly multi-faceted Steve Jones had a gig of my own in a rowdy Hackney bar (beery punters-1, sensitive guitarist-0); made some demos with the resident genius in my life James Wolfe who writes story songs in the vein of Weill, Brecht and Nick Cave; and produced a single for Andi Sexgang, in whose band of misfits I used to play. Andi delivered a vocal so passionate and theatrical that the engineer and I both started first laughing, then crying. This is a man who has the ability to channel pure ecstacy, and it’s a frightening but wonderful thing to behold! The single is a cover of an old German song called ‘Criminal Tango’, in collaboration with Cinema Strange. It will probably be out in about 4 years’ time…

I’ll leave you with a stirring quote from Andi: “Do not fear the Industry, they work for you and the music, not the other way round. To them you are a bandit, so be a bandit and let them fear you. Express yourself truthfully and with panache, do not be afraid to do what you want to do. Experiment and push the boundaries. Be a warrior, not a slave.”

Petra-Jean Philipson came over to add some guitars to her record. It all sounded pretty complete already so I just made some subtle sounds to shift the mood here and there. Petra is incredibly intuitive, unconventional and particular, but today everything just clicked into place first time. She has been working in St Paul’s Cathedral, cleaning and restoring every surface. She took me up on the scaffolding to see all the mosaics and stained glass up close, which was extraordinary, and she obviously loves the job; her work there will last for centuries. Unfortunately she wouldn’t take me to the hidden corridor that is, in her own words, ‘haunted to buggery’…

Spent 2 days in Ireland working with David Holmes on his new album, which sounds amazing. Lots of twisted angular guitars and he even let me loose on the CS-80 - a vast 70s keyboard with, seemingly, a mind of its own lurking somewhere inside its imposing chassis. On bass was Tim Lefebvre from a very special band called Boomish; check out their website. You can see me modelling their t-shirts sporting a fake moustache, in the guise of English gent Horatio Harris.Anyone visiting Belfast should have dinner at the Errigle Arms, which from the outside looks vaguely threatening , but inside serves delicious food and Guinness whilst preserving the (now deceased) founder’s blanket ban on background music. David’s studio is a sight to behold. It’s in his old house, and has taken over everything – every room sprawling with funky old drum machines and synths, with a comforting ‘student’ atmosphere (perhaps emanating from the many huge ashtrays stuffed to capacity with fag-ends and other unidentified matter). Much less pressured than working in a big studio. But roughly 5 times colder for the first hour.