Most of the last week has been spent feverishly trying to finish projects off so that they don’t run into other ones that are about to start. I haven’t quite managed it. On the finished side are the Chris Difford album and Eno’s Pure Scenius project. Chris’s was quite straight forward – mostly a case of working hard to find the right vocal approach to each song, and backing vocals to illustrate lyrics which are by turns witty, moving and kaleidoscopic. One of the highlights for me was getting Green Gartside of Scritti Politti to sing on a track. Hearing that voice that i have listened to for 25 years coming out of my studio speakers was an incredible moment for me. The Scenius thing as been a more complicated journey, but after much to-ing and fro-ing I hope that we’ve hit on the final running order – a representative document of the Oprea House concerts that nevertheless works as an album in its own right. I think it has benefited from some last-minute ‘eureka’ moments from me in the dark art of mixing. It is one of the skills that seems to take the longest to develop confidence and fluidity in, full of often-unquantifiable value judgements arising from seemingly simply technical decisions. Then in the end someone goes and plays a low-res mp3 of the thing out of their iPod speakers.

Edging towards the finishing line but not quite over it yet is the Iarla O’Lionaird album. During this latest period of work, and not for the first time, his incredibly beautiful, honest and brave singing had me in tears at the mixing desk – which was a bit embarrassing for us both. Instrumentally a large part of the record involves strings, courtesy of The Geese (a very creative duo of violin and viola, whose part-planned improvisations I edited into arrangements that could never have been scored conventionally); and Oliver Coates, a quite staggeringly talented cellist whose understanding and application of influences from Xenakis to Nico Muhly made for one of the most electrifying and humbling days I’ve ever spent in a studio. Here is a man destined for greatness, if he’s not there already.

Unfinished but well on the way is the Brett Anderson record. We’ve spent some time writing songs over the edited improvisations recorded in January, and frankly both of us have that slightly naughty feeling you get when you’re trying not to be too pleased with yourself. It is going to be amazing, the songs are the most powerful and direct he’s written since Suede and the album has a sound all its own. There is a distinct drive and rawness at the heart of the record that will render overdub-stage dithering obsolete. Unfortunately I have to stop work on it now for a month or so, but I know Brett will be hard at work in my absence.

I did an improvised session for a show called ‘Late Junction’ on Radio 3 with Seb Rochford, the mbira player Chartwell Dutiro, and a young MC called Jyager. All the sounds seemed to bloom from the giant rattling, primal, joyful shell of the mbira, with Jyager managing to invent some new kind of genre which we are going to try and expand upon by making a record later in the year.

A few sessions scattered around – another great score by Alex Heffes for a film called ‘The First Grader’; a little more for KT Tunstall’s new and very different-sounding record; something with orchestra for a tv series called ‘Daughters’ during which i was not required for large swathes of time so effectively got paid to sit next door in Carluccio’s; a French artist called Lio; and even a day with Coldplay which was pretty bizarre and mostly consisted of me and Jonny geeking out over guitar effects. Lastly, Jon Hopkins and I had a day in the studio with Brian doing some more jams for an album.

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