I’m now starting a to record a CD of John Metcalfe’s music. John has been super-busy working on all the arrangements for Peter Gabriel’s new album (out in 2 weeks), but has found time to write a new suite of pieces for cello and piano. The remainder of the CD will be cello and electronics - sometimes very subtle, as in the Suite of 4ths (where the computer adds a 4th below each note I play, so that when I play two notes at once, you hear a sumptuous 4-note chord), and sometimes forming a large part of the musical landscape, as in Constant Filter. The latter piece was one I commissioned 3 years ago for the On The Road tour, and was the runaway success of that programme.

So I’m at home, recording on a pair of Schoeps microphones, through an Apogee Duet, into my trusty MacBook Pro and onto Logic 8. It’s so simple to record these days! It’s really wonderful to be able to work exactly when I want, and I’m really looking forward to playing around with the sound, and tweaking things at my leisure! More to follow…

Having had a fantastic Christmas and New Year here in London, we’re now extending our holiday by two weeks to go to Brazil to visit the Yawinawa people. A friend of ours is organising for 10 of us to fly to Sao Paulo, then Rio Branco, then Taruaca, (click the link, and zoom out lots with the scale thingy on the left of the map!) where we drive for 3 hours and then travel upriver in a flat-bottomed boat for 6 hours before we reach our destination! It’s the rainy season, so we’ll get wet, and we’ll be in the lower slopes of the Andes in the far West of Brazil near the border with Peru. When we finally arrive we’ll be living with the Yawanawa in their village as they do: sleeping in hammocks, eating their food, washing in the river. It should be an incredible experience. I can’t wait - it feels like a long time since I’ve been on such an adventure.

When I return, it’s going to be straight back into it with a vengeance with a CD of John Metcalfe’s music to record around trips to Abu Dhabi and Holland. I’m recording the whole thing at home, which is a first for me, and I’m really looking forward to doing that in my own time. The CD will be out in May alongside a run of concerts based around John’s music that I’m doing at Kings Place in London.

A couple of photos from September’s performance of The Virtual Cellist. The screen behind me was showing images created live from the motion capture suit I was wearing, and a bunch of very clever people  from YeastCulture on computers!

“…execution and quality of invention are exceptional”

Click here for Jazzwise review

“…devilish fun enjoyed by two brilliant musical personalities”

Click here for Music Web International Recording of the Month review

Article about Matthew Barley and Sally Potter in the Independent on Sunday