January
In December I went back home to New Zealand to visit my family and on the way back I was lucky enough to visit Vietnam. Getting out of the country always provides a lot of stimulus for my songwriting and perspective on life in general.
February
February was back to work, finishing the last bits of recording for Wingspan and preparing for our first single release....
March
In March we released the first single from Wingspan - The Devil Always Pulls Through
April
April was spent finishing the album and working on our live set.
May
In May we had an exciting lineup change with Mishkin Fitzgerald joining the band on bass.
June
In June we toured in Germany and played the new album live for the first time at Bastion, Bochum.
July
In July we launched the album live to our Kickstarter backers.
It was also a difficult month as our van got broken into.
August
August looked a bit like this...
I spent more time at home this year than ever and my practice has never been so regular!
September
In September we signed to Not Saints - the UK's only label for artists in recovery. Mishkin and I are both sober musicians and I'm very proud to be part of the sober community.
October
In October we released Lorelei, our second single from Wingspan, under Not Saints.
November
In November we released Wingspan.
December
December was another quiet month for me with practice and writing.
I was ill for a while - this seems to be a tradition for me at this time of year!
Christmas was a beautiful end to my year with a family reunion. My family is spread internationally and I hadn't seen many of them for about 15 years. I often talk about deep feelings of loneliness and detachment that are expressed in my work and it felt very healing to reconnect and experience the shared values of kindness and compassion that really define my family as a whole.