Music has always been a hugely important part of my life. I’ve loved singing as far back as I can remember. When I was seventeen I started writing songs, after my first relationship ended.

I bought a (digital) 4-track recorder on a drunken afternoon (I was nineteen) egged on by my friend Sammy. I’d been telling him that I wanted to try recording some of my music. We were drinking near Charing Cross Road, with all its music shops. “What are you waiting for?” Sammy asked.

It’s a good question! I should ask myself it more often.

Anyhow – then began my occasional forays into badly demoing songs! Hands up: I’m not great at using recording equipment; I don’t own anything fancy; I can’t play guitar brilliantly; I have never used any ‘popping’ shields… but I enjoyed the process of getting the songs ‘on tape’.

I didn’t really go in for re-takes, so many of the recordings feature bum-notes and unintentional sound effects including sirens, car horns and answer-machine messages… most of them also have small moments that make me cringe horribly; yet I’m still incredibly fond of them. They’re a record of time and place for me, a better diary that I could intentionally write, and I’m oddly proud of their ramshackle-ness.

A few years ago I put a whole load of them up on my soundcloud page – but here’s a slightly more curated selection.