A nature and foodie van adventure waiting to happen with my old time best buddie, adventurer, journalist and recent Canadian emigre Jessie Levene. We drove and ate our way through British Columbia in her trusty and very comfortable van, ending up in the beautiful haven which is Vancouver Island where we explored the rivers, lakes and sea, Denman and Cortes Island. The trip culminated in a reunion of our old pop-up restaurant World Brunch Club, with all local seasonal produce, which went down extremely well in the town of Cumberland, BC...

Check out Jessie's blogs, journalism and adventures in sound here.

On my last night in Canada I did a magical gig with the band Birch from Cumberland, BC. We performed in a beautiful old Abbey in Cumberland with great acoustics. This was the best way to send me off back home to the UK. Thanks to everyone who came and to Destanne, Jesse, Scott and Jessie for making it such a fun evening :) 

Here is a live recording from the gig...

This was a special two weeks as part of my Canada trip, back at the Banff Centre on a self-led residency. I hauled myself away in a cute cabin in the woods equipped with lots of random and fun things including my cello, drums, gongs, colouring pencils, a grand piano and a mini studio set up. The outcome of this creative hibernation will be released in dribs and drabs as it becomes really over the coming months. Some of the material I hope will go towards my first album, but in the meantime I made a series of improvised recordings inspired by the mountains which I hope to release a little sooner. I learned lots in this two weeks even though it felt painfully short - a good start to a journey of creative self discovery. The main surprise was that I started writing songs, which wasn't my main aim. But i'm proud of what came out. I'm going through an intense period of creating things, which has been a long time coming. And i'm so excited to slowly share everything with you over the coming weeks and months.  

Here is a video made by my friends Oona and Damian, of me improvising with solo cello and a bit of singing too, in the forest next to my cabin. It was a beautiful sunny day, until right after we filmed this when it snowed heavily. Magic!

I am honoured that I was invited by the wonderfully talented singer Rhonda Head from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Northern Manitobato to attend a Thanksgiving meal with the Snow family in Morley in the Stoney Nakoda First Nations Reserve. They were the loveliest friendliest and most generous people, I learned and ate A LOT, and got to explore their beautiful land. Looking forward to going back there for a longer visit next time...