With the release of my “White Finger EP” in March, I had planned to tour. However, after the the writing, the recording, the mixing, the post production, the artwork, the distribution both physical and digital and the promotion, I opted for distance instead. Getting that close to the art can damage your connection; I chose to disappear. Saying that, I have not been completely idle. Setting up a new home studio was a major expenditure of time and energy, having to learn new hardware, skills and workflows. As old work was transferred across, fresh music blossomed.

I have at least one release slated for 2017. Quite how that will manifest is hard to say as right now I am between labels. In my opinion, this impending number is the best thing I have done to date. Where White Finger was intentionally spare, angular and abrasive, this will be fat, swinging and fleshy.

As 2016 dims, I look back to the passing of one my greatest influences, Leonard Cohen. Among the titans that fell this year, his death truly took my breath away. And he was old. It was to be expected. Nonetheless, there’s a catch in the throat to think that as I add the last handful of his releases to my collection, I approach the end of his canon. And what work it is.

“I think the term poet is a very exalted term and should be applied to a man at the end of his work. When he looks back over the body of his work and he’s written poetry then let the verdict be that he’s a poet.” L. Cohen

Thank you for your support,

Oliver Richard

Scotland, December 2016