I’ve just got back from a few days in Ireland working with David Holmes. These are intended to be the closing sessions for his album which we realised to our horror we have been working on (on and off) for seven years! Though this is evidence more of David’s perfectionism – and the amount of soundtrack work that we’ve had – than idleness or lack of inspiration. He had brought back a huge amount of new instruments from LA and I hardly touched a guitar the whole time, instead being required to coax melodies out of an array of obscure vintage keyboards. The only downer was that the inflatable bed I was sleeping on had a slow puncture, meaning that I spent half the night sinking gradually to the ground before having to pump it up again. Automatic pump though, luckily. Ah, the luxury.

Speaking of luxury, there was possible a little too much of it during a recent leg of the Bryan Ferry tour, in the form of a private jet. I won’t deny the convenience (goodbye check–in, goodbye baggage reclaim, hello kindly German captain with a windswept hairpiece), but the band all felt rather guilty. My friend Steve who has been touring with Air, with his typically magnanimous and warm–hearted resolve, has vowed to come up with a plan to offset our carbon emissions. That’s Chris Spedding in the photo by the way, not the toupéed captain. Further Ferry–related guilt ensued from my reluctant appearance at the Countryside Alliance benefit. Now I certainly support the countryside in the face of unbearable pressure from supermarkets and government alike, but many of those present struck me, frankly, as little more than single–issue, bloodthirsty braying toffs. At a recent street festival in central London there were a variety of stalls selling (relatively) local farm produce, yet at the Alliance festival, not a single example of local produce on offer, and all the backstage catering was provided by a big company. Incidentally, Bryan’s recent ’run–in’ with the press was an absolutely scandalous episode cooked up by malicious reporters with no basis in fact whatsoever. We all know that certain sections of the media are just plain liars, but it really hits home when it’s a friend of yours in the firing line. The highlight–stroke–nadir for me was when the Observer (of all papers) solemnly but suggestively printed a 25 year old photo of Bryan with – shock, horror – a moustache!

Anyway, I mastered my new album too. It’s called ’The Unrest Cure’. Mastering can be something of a dark art, in that you can quite easily spend a grand and come out thinking that it sounds exactly the same. This time however the contribution was immense. The record is stylistically all over the place but mastering has really brought everything together, and listening through at home was the first time I let myself think, ’wow, it sounds like a real album’! There were then a flurry of meetings with people in glass offices making promises you really hope they intend to keep. Apparently, the first step when getting a campaign together with a big label is to ’get a buzz going in the building’, which means making a cd of the best 4 tracks and sending it to absolutely everyone who works there, so that they’re all eager to help out and stuff. Sounds pretty reasonable I suppose, it’s just so strange to think that it’s my record they’re talking about. I have to keep reminding myself.

I also got further underway with my next one, a folky follow–up to ’Honeytrap’, with the help of percussionist Martin Barker and bassist Tim Harries (one of my favourite musicians and a huge influence who I met when we were in Eno’s band). There are now 14 tracks on the go, and the editing has given me something to do in the days when I’m on tour with nothing to do until soundcheck, ie every day. That has made a big difference psychologically. Finished off producing a few tracks for the Smoke Fairies too, which you can hear on their myspace.

I’m in New York, and I’ve woken up too early. It’s a flying visit with Bryan Ferry for a guest spot in a concert of sea shanties, presided over by Hal Wilner (I worked on the album, Rogue’s Gallery, in April last year). I walked into the rehearsal to be confronted with a stage full of legendary session musicians backing up an avant–garde duet between Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. As seems always to be the case in New York, everyone was incredibly laid back and genuinely welcoming. Anthony (from Anthony and the Johnsons) featured in one of Bryan’s tunes with violin, trombone and pots and pans abounding. Everything was so quiet and intense onstage, completely and blessedly, refreshingly different to the maelstrom we’d got used to on the tour! Bryan works so well in that stripped down environment and he really enjoyed it. Afterwards I bumped into Michael Stipe who didn’t remember inviting me to feel his heat patch in 2004. I was quite offended.

Bryan’s tour ended in much the style to which we had become accustomed. There was a rambunctious final show in Newcastle so we ended on a high, but I think everyone in the band was knackered and looking forward to being at home for a bit. With the exception of a couple of tv shows (including Jools Holland, at which the set was so dark during our number that I played a dreadful clanger that luckily they can edit out) and a trip to Stockholm all has been quiet on the Ferry front which has left me time to catch up on other things.

I finally finished the album with guest singers so it should be out for Autumn. The last track features KT Tunstall. She’d had it for a while, but when I went round to her house to record she said she’d not had time to come up with anything and would have to do it on the spot. She then proceeded to blow my mind by coming up with an absolutely brilliant tune, writing a verse, recording it, then the chorus, then a most un–KT–like spoken word section, then effortlessly stacking up some immaculate 7–part funky harmonies. I was completely staggered. obviously everyone knows she is talented, but to see it all happen up close was seriously impressve. This album has taken 2 years, almost to the day, to complete. Although I’ve released 2 other records in that time, and despite the obvious benefits of having the likes of KT and Brian Eno involved, this is the last time I involve so many other people. Waiting for and relying on others has been quite a nail–biter. But now it’s on with mixes, artwork and consent forms.

It has been a month of expensive purchases. First came a hurdy–gurdy which I had to have specially made. It is truly an instrument of the Gods. I felt like it was time to learn something new and have been trying to get to grips with the thing. Playing melodies on it is fairly straight–forward but combining that with getting a good rhythm out of the wheel thing is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach whilst completely pissed. I also bought a load of new gear for the studio (and spent hours helping my friend solder it together). Any nerves about the wisdom of lavishing so much cash about quickly disappeared during the inaugural session with the marvellous Smoke Fairies. Suddenly, everything sounded ’like a record’. The studio was good in the first place, but now it’s as if all the tools have been sharpened, making engineering ideas much more achievable. It feels equivalent to only having been allowed to play a guitar that was impossible to tune properly, then being given a really good one and hearing all your ideas come into focus.

There was another lovely session for King Creosote, but the highlight of the last few weeks for me has been getting started on the follow–up to Honeytrap. I did a couple of days recording with a percussionist called Martin Barker, who plays all manner of unusual instruments, some of which he makes himself, in a unique and powerful way. Most percussionists who use exotic instruments skirt dangerously and half–heartedly around ’world music’ territory, but not Martin. His contribution has opened up all kinds of new possibilities. In one case what he did was so good that I realised the song was crap by comparison and would have to be completely rethought. It was so cathartic to finally get round to recording these ideas that have been swimming around in my head for months, and now I am just itching to get back into the studio and carry on.

I’m on a flight to South Africa for some gigs with Ronan, reflecting on what a weird and wonderful way to make a living this can be sometimes. The itinerary tells me that there are to be a mere 5 shows in 12 days. This has been a month of manic travel and, once at the destination, unprecedented and disconcerting idleness. I went to LA to work on the soundtrack to the next Oceans movie with David Holmes and ended up effectively getting paid to sit around and go shopping a lot. For a restless chap who takes pride in his work, these seemingly cushy situations end up being pretty taxing, so I usually bring some editing to do on my laptop. Basically I was there for the first 10 days of recording, during which the priority was laying down drums and bass, and generally working out whether the overall feel was right – a crucial and delicate stage. So I did play now and then, and got some work done on David’s solo record in downtime, and got to hang out with wonderful people like Zach Danziger (who drums on my next record) and Woody Jackson (an amazing guitarist and genius professor of unusual instruments). I was also happy to witness once again the unique phenomenon of the Hollywood session musician, whose reputation and equipment precede him – the latter in the form of at least 6 man–sized flightcases that ominously appear a few hours in advance of the session so that every eventuality is covered, even if all that ends up being required is 4 bars of tambourine. I don’t mean this to sound in any way derogatory, it’s a quite simply awe–inspiring level of seriousness that is above and beyond anything you’ll find in any other city in the world, and they all have the musical skill to match. But it’s kind of funny too.

After the LA trip I went straight to a rehearsal with Jarvis Cocker to learn 15 songs in an afternoon, having not slept for 3 days. Interestingly, despite feeling utterly drunk with fatigue, the musical bit of my brain was functioning well and a few days later in Barcelona, the gig went great. Jarvis’ band is really loud, the bass player in particular has the most unholy tone I’ve ever heard, and that helped give me the confidence to shake off first night nerves. A lot of the sounds I came up with were drenched in reverb and feedback, but it still felt very exposed. Afterwards Jarvis asked me how it had been, and I said I thought I should be asking him the same question. I didn’t make any mistakes, but the brain was a little too much in ascendance over the heart, and I’m looking forward to redressing the balance next time.

There have been a couple of engagements with Bryan Ferry. First, 2 days filming for a possible TV show about his new album. The band piled into a recording studio festooned with wires and cameras and set about publicly re–learning the tunes we’d recorded back in August. I dislike cameras peering up my nose while I’m trying to play the guitar, but this time it was amazing how discreet they were, and how quickly we all forgot they were there – which makes me wonder about which candid moments they’ll see fit to include (a couple of close calls when we realised every word we said was audible in the control room). But most of all it made me look forward to the tour next year – especially with Chris Spedding, Guy Pratt and Andy Newmark in the band. Earlier in the month, we went to Moscow for a private show. This was completely bizarre. Some heavy government–types had hired out a small club and scattered it with a few tables and 20 or so of their closest and apparently most humourless associates. Mild applause greeted each legendary showstopper. The atmosphere was decidedly odd. If I’d been Bryan I would probably have gone mad but to my lasting admiration, all he had to comment on afterwards was a noteworthy guitar solo and some dodgy backing vocals!

I’ve also had a couple of meeting with labels – about my new album (which seems to be coming out on a major, bullshit notwithstanding) and a follow–up to Honeytrap on Just Music, which is now nearly written but not recorded. A couple of gigs with Ed Harcourt which felt like slipping into a comfy old shoes, some TVs with Jarvis and an overdub session with Herbert Gronemeyer, and that concludes a month that has left me both satisfied and disorientated. In the middle of all that a really good radio station, Chill FM, devoted a show to my music; doing a few voiceovers I realised how far away I feel already from stuff I wrote not that long ago. It made me even keener to press on with new ideas next year, despite being very grateful to have travelled so much this year and been involved with so many great projects.