I’m on a flight back from Shannon, having done the second in a run of shows with Iarla O’Lionaird. I have been trying to learn a bit of Gaelic so that I know what he’s singing about. He’s one of my favourite people to play with partly because of the sheer depth of feeling and sincerity in what he does, and partly because he’s such a funny man. In rehearsal barely 8 bars can pass without comment, but as soon as he sings you are plunged immediately back into intense emotion, so it feels a bit like being repeatedly winched in and out of a warm bath. As we came off stage last night his analysis of the gig was: “well lads, some of that was very good, and some of it was… good enough!”

A few more things with Brian Eno this month. The David Byrne collaboration is being mixed in New York so there have been lots of subtly different versions of things flying around and being decided upon. Brian, Jon Hopkins, Pete Chilvers and I spent a week improvising and developing ideas for the film score we’re working on. Once again I was impressed by the lightness of Brian’s touch – the way he often sits back and creates an atmosphere where it all feels like a bit of a game, and in that fertile soil grow ideas which always end up sounding definitively ‘Eno-esque”. I spent most of the sessions with Brian’s cat sitting on my shoulder. After the first day I decided to wear 2 layers to minimise injury.

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in sessions recently, exacerbated by the proliferation of laptops: everyone (myself included) is fiddling around on the internet whenever not required to work. I walked into a David Holmes session a few months ago and everyone (except me) had just got iPhones. There was depressingly little conversation that week. In Brian’s studio a group email was sent out by Pete to test who was most neurotic about checking their email. I’m ashamed to say that I lost, although I maintain that it was just unfortunate timing.

The Eno/Hancock collaboration is proceeding well; I’ve begun to mix some of the tracks and am arranging for various vocalists to contribute. I came across a great Tuvan throat singer in a band called Yat-Kha, and got in touch with their producer Lu Edmonds. What an inspirational character he is. He came over and played me recordings he had made in the mountains of Tajikistan (which are virtually inaccessible most of the year), in minus-30 degree temperatures. The music was unlike anything I had ever heard – ancient Sufi texts incanted over rhythms and harmonies I could never have imagined, and could barely decipher. It was a true ‘exploding horizons’ moment – that rare occasion when music speaks directly to a part of you that you never knew was there. I’m going to mix some of it for Lu, and since hearing it I’ve felt more inspired than I have in ages.

Lastly this month, I did some recording for film composer Jody Jenkins, and did a few writing sessions with singers. One was Valentina who blends 60s psychadelia with hiphop. Another was Beth Rowley, who I produced a track for a few months ago. She can paint so many different characters with her voice, and she had a wonderful treasure-trove of developing ideas hidden away in her laptop, which were very original, charming and unsettling. I also helped my friend James Wolff record some new songs of his. He’s like the English successor to Jacques Brel and I urge anyone reading this to check him out: www.jameswolff.com

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