April – June 2026

I have a memory that has been with me a lot recently.

I was probably eight or nine years old. My mum and dad had recently gone their separate ways, and we’d moved into an old farmhouse with my stepdad, Jon. One morning I woke early, walked quietly down the old wooden staircase, and found him sitting alone at the kitchen table playing guitar.

I’d never really seen anyone do that before.

Looking back, I don’t think I realised it then, but that quiet morning planted a seed. It was the first time I saw someone giving themselves to a craft in that way. Beside him sat his record collection, and over the years musicians came through the house as my mum and Jon ran a folk club together in Cornwall. I thin kof them as musical activists like that, and my days were filled with the songs of Joan Baez, Buffy Saint Marie, Bob Dylan and so on…A few years later, with, by then a mix of current guitar band blended into my influence, I started writing songs myself.

My biological father loved poetry and writing too, and I think between them they gave me a love of story, music and language that has stayed with me ever since.

That memory has felt especially present over the last few months, as I’ve been deep in the process of sharing new songs and shaping what is becoming the next stage of my work as a songwriter.

I’ve been working closely with producer James Sanger, developing a set of songs. And alongside that, a listening community (p/w ‘listening’ if you want to have a listen) forming around these songs. People have taken time to write, voice note, reflect, and respond in extraordinary detail, so thank you. Some of it has been about melody or lyrics, but much of it has been far more personal stories about grief, hope, identity, injustice, faith, relationships, and the ways music travels through people’s lives in ways we can’t always predict.

It has reminded me that songs don’t really belong to the songwriter once they are released. They become conversations.

So yes, thank you.

Because of that shared listening, we’ve now settled on the songs that will move forward into the next stage with James. Hold On To, Land Back, and Even in the Dark have consistently returned through people’s responses, with Song for Beginners still gently present as a possibility.

Hold On To is about what carries us through difficult times, naming children, liberatory notions of love, poetry and listening – all that I see inspiring acts of community and resistance to a politics and economic system which privileges individualism and ownership. Land Back engages with indigenous land return, history and justice. Even in the Dark explores broadly meditation in the face of violence, hope, and how to stay present with both light and darkness in a world that can feel overwhelming. And Song for Beginners carries a sense of beginning again, and of again community and again hope.

Over the coming months I’ll be working on arrangements, harmonies and demos before taking these songs to James in person.

Alongside that process, I’ve appreciated sharing some of this music in live settings too recently/

A huge thank you to the promoters and you too if you came along to any recent gigs. It was a joy to play at the Storytellers Night at St Pancras Clock Tower in London with the Nayar Collective and Nathalie Nathai, an intimate and attentive evening that I won’t forget.

I also had the pleasure of taking part in the Hibernation Sessions with Christa Awad, created by Olga Baron, where music is brought into people’s homes for those who can’t easily access live venues. It felt like a reminder that music doesn’t always need a stage—it just needs presence 🙂 That night was beautiful and i met a hedgehog on an evening walk afterwards 🙂

And at the Northern Vegan Music Festival, there was a real sense of collective energy in the room, musicians, activists and listeners all gathered together. Thank you to Anna for organising along with her team of helpers, and to Barbara Helen, Mills & Farrell and Sweet Goose for sharing the stage.

If you weren’t able to be there, I’ve shared a couple of live recordings from those evenings—El Moj El Bar from the Hibernation Sessions (thank you my dear friend Raaz for recording) with Christa Awad, and Our Children from St Pancras.

“Our children born to a Genocide, eyes wide open trained on the glowing skies,
I see everything changing and it must again for our failings of our children.”

Upcoming shows include Mutual Aid for Palestinian Families with Palestinian poet Farah Chamma and a closing show for Big Ride for Palestine in July

Radio play

There has also been some wonderful radio support recently. Young Colours was played again on BBC Introducing and BBC Sounds, which I’m deeply grateful for. The song is about celebrating the rainbow, and about LGBTQIA+ identity and liberation, and it continues to feel meaningful to hear it finding its way out into the world.

It also sits alongside my podcast series Warmth of the Ages, where I spoke with Gabi about non-binary identity and reflecting on figures and ideas that have shaped the movement. There are a couple of other episodes still to come, and you can find everything through the project page when you request the record. – please request it – free if you need 🙂

At the same time, This Skin had a few weeks on seven community radio stations (thanks to Rob -Deuce Music promo’s work. The song looks inward at racism, and at what it means to reflect on identity and responsibility. I want to say a sincere thank you to all the stations supporting independent music and helping these songs travel further than I could alone.

I’ve also recently shared some collaborations with Christa Awad, including performances at the ABC Biodiversity Festival. I’ll include a few photos below. It was a gathering full of music, care, and huge insects 🙂 appreciating the organisers so much

We’re also beginning to launch a small YouTube channel where I’ll be sharing songs and performances every week or so. If you’d like to follow along, you can subscribe and stay connected as new work unfolds.

And finally, thank you for reading this far, and for being part of this in whatever way you are.

If I return to where I began, I can see that morning in the farmhouse more clearly now than I could then. I didn’t know it at the time, but something was being set in motion.

I’d love to know if there’s a moment like that in your own life. A quiet moment where something was planted that only made sense years later.

See my releases page for my singles and album projects. If anyone ever wants to listen but is finding money tight, please do still reach out. I’d always rather the music be heard than held behind barriers where it doesn’t need to be.

And as always – here’s this newsletter’s Relaxation for you.

Take care,

Joe\