I just found out I am to be made redundant. After three and half years of working in a post-production studio in Glasgow, the pressures of city centre rental costs and a downturn in the broadcast industry have resulted in the studio closing down. Hence, I am without job. I have become part of the statistics we keep hearing on the news. So, why do I love 2009?

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last few years working at the studio. I have worked with some talented people on some great programmes (along with a few destined strictly for daytime TV!). However, it has required a long commute from Fife to Glasgow every day, even as I write this I’m travelling on the bus. Also, the pay isn’t incredible to be honest. But what would it take for me to move on to something new? It is not an easy thing to leave the predictable and safe for no other reason than because you have an inkling that your life could be spent in a better way. And it’s probably not something I would do. But now the decision has been taken out my hands and a fairly large void lies before me. I think it might be a friendly void though.

If money was out of the equation is there anything you would rather do than what you’re doing now? Maybe. For me, I’ve always wanted more time to pursue writing and recording music, as well as working with other artists and film makers, preferably nearer to home, with time spare to give to charitable work , both locally and overseas. Head well and truly in the sky, I hear you say. Well I imagine the next few months will require plenty of unrelenting arrogance and naivety, or what I prefer to call confidence and optimism. Yes I have anxiety and an almighty collision of frenzied thoughts but I also feel a joy and freedom facing the unknown.

Ask me again in six months time.

I had read a lot about this style of gig and had always thought it was great idea. Playing in front of a small gathering of people who really care about what you’re doing is probably more rewarding for the artist than playing in a crowded bar with 200 talkative drunks (we’ve all been there). And for the listener, it’s an opportunity to meet the artist and engage in proper conversation.

Last night I was playing in Ali Thomson’s living room in his flat in Marchmont. It’s actually quite daunting playing with no stage, only an arm stretch from your audience. Without that slight separation there’s little opportunity to take on a performing persona that might help hide how you’re actually feeling. But the intimacy also allows you to perform in a way you never could on stage. I could practically whisper and know that it would be heard and I found myself singing in quite a different style to my usual live performance, closer in fact, to the way I sing when writing and  recording.

I also decided to bring all the original hand stitched artwork that my wife had made for the album, work that up until now had only been seen by a few of my friends. It was as much a pleasure to see her work appreciated tangibly as it was to share the fabric of the writing process behind the songs.

So thanks to everyone who came and for Ali, Dave and Ben for hosting the evening. May it be the first of many.

Just put together a playlist on Spotify of some tracks I’ve been enjoying recently. Enjoy.