Feb 2024
Dear friends,
Wishing you all a happy new year! Thursday was St.Brigid’s day here in Ireland which marks the first day of spring - here’s to the lengthening of the days and the awakening of creativity after what felt like a dark and stormy winter. Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024 - thanks for reading and being a part of what my friend the composer Tom Adams calls ‘Slow Social Media’ ! I made it my new year’s resolution to write more handwritten letters and ‘re-analog’ my life a bit more….shoot some photographs on film, hammer away on my typewriter, and read real books. Although this newletter is being typed on my computer, it certainly feels more ‘analog’ and its a practice I’m enjoying - sending on news of musical projects, my creative thoughts and of course some book recommendations.
Over Christmas I went to the UK to spend time with family and friends, and as we always travel on trains and ferries I bring with me a faithful bag of essential things so I can be creative while travelling. Its all stuff that I bring when on 'holiday' (ie. not working professionally on anything) and such times are great because the mind can rest and be playful.
I thought you guys might enjoy seeing what I carry around with me - maybe you'll get some tips or ideas. I made a full write up of all the things and some stories behind them over on my patreon page - its a free public post so if you want to read more do click over there for the full article.
CORK CREATIVE PODCAST
In December I was invited to be part of a podcast series all about creative people living and working in Cork. Geraldine Hennessy came to my home studio and we sat and had a really great conversation for the best part of an hour, discussing musical influences, inspirations, my work flow and even getting a bit political near then end. Music for president! Do click on the image above if you want to have a listen. (I like to listen to podcasts while washing up….)
On my bookshelf….
I enjoyed some wonderful bookshop visits over Christmas and picked up some great books. I actually have had to build another bookshelf in my studio, such is my love of them!
Chomsky and Pappé’s On Palestine is timely reading to get a really focused and nuanced analysis of the past, present and future of the situation and what we can do as activists which will really aid people on the streets of Gaza….
Lemn Sissay is a poet from Manchester who visited my school when I was 16 and really inspired me to start writing and being creative and out-there. I love this collection Let the Light Pour In as he wrote a 4 line poem every morning for 10 years to help himself out of the doldrums. This is the best of them. Its a practice we’ve been trying in our household and its wonderful!
A Sabbatical in Leipzig by Irish writer and artist Adrian Duncan is a strange and oddly beautiful novel which is told as a first person narrative of a meticulous and methodical engineer with an eye for detail and system but plays out some heartbreaking grief and loss as he goes through his memories of a day visiting the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. Its like no novel I have every read before and stayed with me for many weeks after finishing it.
That’s all for now. 2024 holds some exciting musical collaborations and performances which I will let you know about as the year progresses. I’m also trying my best to carve out some alone time in my studio to work on a new live violin/electronics/video projection show with max patches I have written to make audio-reactive video.
If you’d like to help support this work with the price of a cup of coffee per month and receive videos, music, tips and updates monthly do consider joining my patreon community. Its a really wonderful way to directly support artists in this new streaming paradigm. I support some unique creators on patreon and as well as getting great benefits, it also just feels right to give a little bit back towards keeping an independent culture alive.
Go well into the spring.
Justin