Last year I searched through files from previous years to compile my first album since 2021.
A lot has happened since then, and the music was diverse and a challenge to sequence for my new album: BOUT
It was part of a bigger project to gain skills in mastering audio that was supported by a Country Art Support Program grant from Western Riverina Arts and Create NSW through financial assistance from the NSW Government.
Since watching a video of Angine de Poitrine I have been wanting a double neck guitar.
Then I remembered that guitar and bass can sound really conventional together.
So I have used an electric ukulele and a Chase Bliss Habit pedal with bass.
Aside from showing him how to use the tuning key, I mentioned Ringo's recording technique.
Now it looks like washing on a rainy day and sounds like Lars' cardboard boxes on Justice For All to me, but my son was into it and played solidly for about an hour.
While my photo doesn't show a fig tree, it was taken near one.
The instructions this week are to "Record a piece of music that exemplifies the “sensitive math” genre."
I decided the sensitive part was going to give a reflective feeling, while the math component would be varying time signatures.
Last night I did most of the composing and thought I'd come back and add a melody to be a focal point.
However, when I listened back, it seemed there was enough happening and decided a lead instrument would be too demanding.
Then I looked at Archive.org for a video to suit the track and realised it was perfect for a chick flick.
It really is refreshing to hear the zing on the low strings while taming the earache on the high ones.
I'm wondering if the angle on the pickup was originally a way to add more bite to dark-sounding wiring on early electric guitars?
Around the time that discussion was occuring for a collaboration between Naviar Records and Red Earth Ecology, many of those who would become involved in the Stay Cool workshops attended the Haiku Down Under event that brings together poets in Australia and New Zealand.
Lisa Germay was one of the audience and we shared a few emails after the event.
Lisa is a multidisciplinary artist who writes haiku and haibun in the traditional Japanese tradition, seeking moments of beauty in everyday experience.
This Australian living in Arctic Greenland gave a presentation that started the Stay Cool workshops, so it is fitting to share her poem and also photograph.
Her presentation can be viewed here or a summary can be read at ree.org.au/2026/02/17/stay-cool-with-lisa-germany/
The Stay Cool project will culminate in an exhibition in the city of Griffith, Australia from 20 April that will include QR code for visitors to hear the compositions contributed by the Naviar Records community.
