*150 copies limited edition* "Later, listening back to the recording, he was surprised to find how the sound of the gulls and wind, the slap of waves, evoked not the grim reality of the crossing but the romantic ideal of a sun soaked cruise." - Geoff Dyer

Compared to my last couple of albums (Mote Music and Borrowed Out of Time) White Sands is somewhat of a departure in style. This album has a heavier emphasis on conventional instrumentation and harmonic structure which is something that I have actively avoided in the past, employing all manner of strategies to purposefully obscure the semblance of a nice-sounding chord.

The artefacts of human presence have also inadvertently made their way into the tracks of this album. Voices carried within rooms and exterior spaces; footsteps squeaked on tiles and squelched in the earth; things were being dropped, clothing rustled, vehicles passed or instruments were being played. Their appearance in the material hadn't come about through deliberate intent on my part, but there was certainly something at play in my subconscious that gradually allowed these presences back into the mix. Like my softening to harmonic structure, this may not be a coincidence, but a result of some deep rethinking about my place within the musical, art and wider world. After a lot of self contemplation and the resulting intense need for change and fresh perspectives, a holiday was well overdue. All of the field recordings that feature on White Sands were made during this escape from monotony, on a trip that traversed the lands of Scotland, England, Belgium and Germany.