dear Ukraine,

i’ll be coming to sing to you in July. 

a warm thank you to Yaroslav at Feral Angst for his kind invitation back in early February, and for his ongoing support and determination to continue setting things up, even as he was drafted into the army.

here are the dates so far:

04.07 Kharkiv / DRUK – organized by Kazka family
07.07 Kyiv / Squat 17B
10.07 Odesa / More Music Club

the shows will help raise money for a wonderful charity called Cats on Mars, an organization devoted to rescuing cats from war-torn areas across the country, and sheltering them in Kyiv.

more details over the next weeks, including ticket information, and possibly another show announcement or two as well, but lately, the focus has been on arranging all of this, and continuing work on album number six in various places, including São Jorge, where i contemplated staying forever, wrapped in sea spray and azaleas, with the little orange cat dozing on my shoulders, and my guitar in my arms.

but: i can hardly wait to perform again, and also to finish my newest songs, and the album as a whole. returning to the House of Miracles here in Canada today, for a couple of intensive days of recording – my rental car awaits as i type this.

see you in a month and a half, Ukraine.

love,
eric.

maybe i’m dreaming. i don’t know, or care. took this picture-that-looks-like-a-painting-but-that’s-just-how-it-looks-here of my Telecaster from a new favourite singing spot, its sunburst-finish drinking the last dregs from the sky from inside my pack. replenishing its glow. i’m here on the north coast of São Jorge, in the Azores, for most of April, to finish writing album number six, hike into its most remote fajãs, find some peace of mind, drink too much Portuguese wine, and to finally, finally, finally, finally, finally sing out loud again, after a few months of feeling like a piano on a sunken ship.

to Queen Victoria’s ghost: i won’t be needing the lodge after all. or at least not yet.

some show announcements soon, i hope; i’ve been working on something very special for months, with someone’s help.

or, if this is indeed a dream, it’s fine with me. back to the cliffs now with my guitar, to be (further) seasoned by Poseidon. or maybe into the sky with the birds. or maybe i’ll just keep sitting here with this stray cat in my lap for a while; a new, dear friend who looks a lot like an old, dear friend.

love,
eric.

dear Queen Victoria’s ghost,

in late autumn of last year, i was walking with a friend to the southwestern end of Loch Muick in the Scottish Highlands, looking for a bothy she’d heard was tucked away there, when to our great surprise, we came across Glas-allt-Shiel, the gloriously lonely, gratuitously enormous lodge you had built back in 1868, to escape to and mourn in.

i’ve been daydreaming of this place, ever since, and am wondering if you’d consider a co-haunting, even just for a few weeks, before spring and more bothy-seekers arrive; i’m in the final stages of writing the last songs for my sixth album, and am longing for a place where i can sing out loud without being overheard (my apartment in Canada=less soundproof than a soap bubble). Glas-allt-Shiel is so close to what i’m looking for; isolated, off-grid, perpetually rainy, uninhabited by mortals. and it seems to have about 647 rooms. i’d only need one.

i’ve no other way to reach you, so please let me know by DM or late-night visitation.

sincerely,
eric.

dear everyone else,
album number six feels like a new heart in my chest. there’s still a lot of work to do before it’s finished (that doesn’t necessarily have to be done in a haunted Scottish lodge), but i’m determined to release it this year, and am hoping to announce some concerts very soon too.
missing your faces, and can hardly wait to share some new music; i couldn’t possibly be more thrilled about the album, even in its unfinished state.
love,
eric.

happy new year, everyone. with lots of love. and hope.  

and happy birthday (yesterday) to “no ghostless place”. 

thinking about the coming year and what is possible. or impossible, it really doesn’t matter which, to me. deeply missing performing.

continuing at every moment otherwise to work on some urgent new songs for album number six, with the hopes of getting back into the studio soon. and then back onto as many stages as possible/impossible.

❤️
eric.

memories of Europe remain achingly with me here, back in Canada, and not only within the new songs i’ve been working on – recently, an interview i was invited to by La Face B while i was in Paris at the end of September, was published, and it’s been a deeply moving experience to revisit the concert at Les Disquaires.

my warmest gratitude to La Face B, for everything they do for music, and to the wonderful Chloé Vincent, not only for her interest and thoughtful questions, but who in her infinite patience allowed me to take my time to answer them over a tumultuous period while i was transitioning between France and Bulgaria, my brain a handful of sparks thrown into a high wind.

the picture was taken just before departing Sofia Central Station on October 2nd, where i began trying to come up with some answers during a rainy train ride to Plovdiv (and is particularly fitting, as my current view of my laptop screen has been similarly blurred by the very lovely summation Chloé’s written about that night in Paris).

click here to read the interview.

i’ve been working on some extremely insistent new songs for album number six, these days – they’re tugging at my sleeve now. more soon.

love,
eric.

this might look like a waterfall i met a couple of days ago in Québec, but it’s also an X-ray of my heart, captured during last week’s concert in London, Ontario.

thank you from its depths to everyone who came to listen, to The Aeolian for hosting/containing me for my first performance back in Canada after the mega-cathartic snowmelt that was touring Europe, and of course to Darin Addison, once again, for his invitation, and his kindness, and for showing me the secret room filled with Indonesian musical instruments. 

i fell in love instantly with the Lounge, which i hadn’t realized includes a piano, so am in the midst of deciding on a date in January or February to return for an evening show.

love,
eric.

heading back to Canada after some songwriting in Iceland, some adventures in the Scottish highlands, and the loveliest and most life-affirming tour imaginable. still as incandescent with emotion from the shows i played in Europe as i was the day i left Poland; my heart is spilling out of me like the Aurora, too big and shimmering to be kept inside, and stretching back across the sea to the people i met and sang to. thank you all, again and again. 

grateful to have a show in Canada to return to – i’ll be performing in London, Ontario, at Aeolian Hall, in the Southen Lounge, on Tuesday, November 25th, as part of its TUNES@NOON series. thank you once again to Darin Addison for his uncanny ability to make me feel at home when i’m needing it most. it’s a midday show, which is a unique challenge, but i’m up for it. admission is free.

i’d been holding on to a possible concert in Volos, Greece in late November, and put a lot of effort into finding shows in many other places in Europe as well, while i was here (as many of you know – thank you again for your help, those who reached out), but these will be shifted until another time, likely next fall.  regardless, i’ve made many wonderful new contacts, and will see you all again soon, and get to some new places as well.

more performances coming up, and for the rest of the year, i’ll be focusing on continuing with the writing and recording of album #6.

hope to see you on the 25th.

love,
eric.

i’m very late with this, because i’ve been inside an avalanche since leaving Poland.  the fall European tour has ended (i think), and the echoes it’s generated feel infinite and overwhelming, and i’m in the Cairngorms in Scotland now, which is somehow still not a vast enough space to contain them.

thank you, Kraków, for last Tuesday.   to the fantastically wonderful Kuba @ Łabandzi Śpiew for all his persistence, hard work and optimism in finding and organizing a show for me there.  to Adam Krukowski for the gorgeous opening set.  to Krzysztof @ Grandma Enjoys Music for doing sound with such care, and for so generously lending me some of his gear for the night.  and to everyone who came out, including some unexpected guests from afar.  you were all so lovely, and i’m grateful.

love,
eric.

new show. ❤️ thrilled to be performing in Kraków, Poland next week, on Tuesday, October 28th, at Confession Club.

huge gratitude to Jakub at Łabandzi Śpiew for all the effort he’s put into organizing the concert, and to Krzysztof at GEM for stepping in to take care of sound.

show starts at 20:00, tickets 20 PLN. see you there. 

love,
eric.

Warsaw, part 2: MIT Space, Sunday, October 19th.

the picture below says everything about last night’s private concert here in Warsaw – it’s one of the welcome cards that Victoria, who organized every aspect of the evening, made for each guest, and placed on their seats to find when they arrived, each with a unique autumn leaf she’d collected and then carefully pasted to the card, and each with a handwritten message.

it’s not just the extraordinary care, time and tenderness she put into doing this, it’s the leaves themselves – they capture so much of what last night was. and more.

i should add that there was delicious cake too, that she’d baked herself. and champagne. and candles. and gift bags of sweets. and a rented sound system, handled by expert technicians. and a stage that looked like a meadow at sunset, pink and purple and orange, with strings of small glittering lights on the floor, like fireflies in the grass.

and on top of all of that, this beautiful conjured field was occupied by a group of people who were absolutely lovely, and attentive and generous listeners, and who helped turn an already magical scene into an experience that i’ll never forget.

to the kind and welcoming people at MIT space, to the sound technicians who did such an amazing job, to the audience, and finally and most of all to the truly remarkable Victoria, who was behind every last detail, from her original email inviting me in August (and the many we exchanged since) and who imagined and then brought to life the all-too-fleeting but indelible experience that last night was: thank you. 

love,
eric

love,
eric.