Sensoria

The lilies were opening overnight, one by one. On waking, I’ve been leaning in, breathing in, overcome by the scent. Tiny coral coloured stamens, leaving their residue. But my question is: Why overnight? Do tell me if you know.

It’s been a while. I hope you’re all doing really well. Firstly, thanks to Nige and Mark for renewing your founding and annual memberships, I’m very grateful! Secondly, the PhD is done, having sent the final version over to Enlighten Thesis, and I’ll be graduating on 30th. And so all I want to do right now is go and watch the new Mission Impossible. Then, book a flight. I’ll be returning to my tutoring at the RCA over summer too, which is very welcome.

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As some of you who follow me on social know, I’ve been busking for a few months now. It’s the most radically open of spaces and I’ve a lot more to say on it, which I will do in a new vlog. Some kind words from recent encounters:

New music discoveries often happen unexpectedly. I was killing time waiting for a train in Glasgow, wandering around with a camera when I stumbled across Sam and her music. Her unique style made a very real impression. There is great depth in what she does and... hard to put into words but I 'felt' her presence as I watched and listened and will follow her to see where she goes with this.

Brian Anderson, Broadcasting Cottage

I absolutely loved Sam's voice. Right from the first second I had to stop and hear everything she sang.

Carolyn @buskersofglasgow

I had the most fortunate luck of being in Kelvingrove Park while Sam happened to be sharing her music. So much drawn was I that I walked past three times to hear what to me feels like a unique and hauntingly beautiful style. I'm grateful I went over for a gab too as now I can continue to absorb Sam's vibe through social media.

Debs @milkthefunk

It was a sunny day in Kelvingrove Park when I bumped into Sam. She sang Wicked Game for me and brightened the day up even more. Sublime!

Neil Scott

I have felt inspired since our connection and I actually published my first blog post yesterday! I have a pretty deep desire to share my writing but was meeting all this resistance (of course) and didn't know what exactly I wanted to write about.. but I decided to just sit down and try. Once I did, the piece took shape on its own.

Thank you for being a fan to my flames!

Georgina

One Sunday afternoon I was walking through Kelvingrove Park when I heard a voice. So unique and pleasant to my ears was the voice that I followed it to its source. I found Sam singing and playing guitar and ended up sitting and listening for the rest of the afternoon. She is brilliant not just in her ability as a musician but in the way she makes things her own. Truly a joy to listen.

Jordan Berry @jordanberrymusic

It’s also bringing in new things, one being a photoshoot with Glasgow-based street photographer, Ahmed Rakin, who took these images for my next album Sensoria. I feel so very lucky to have happened upon Ahmed, he’s been a real pleasure to work with, and we have a visual sequence for the album spanning three locations, segueing through dress/colour schemes and moods. This has all been very intuitive. I had the title, and then came the idea that for this one I would work outwards from the images into the recordings. I also have a new solo project in the works, Unrecorded Nights, more on that later.

Bye for now,

S x