Right then...I've begun the 3rd album (the follow-up to 'Speak For Yourself'). I'm going to write a more frequent blog as I did with the last one so you can keep an eye on me and make sure I'm not slacking! I wonder how it's gonna turn out? How exciting! You're very welcome to comment but please don't ask me questions on here or i'll never get any work done. You can email me with any questions you have and every month we'll pick 20 from the virtual 'hat' and post them. Send your questions to: [email protected]

Much much more to come! Love, fluv x i x Wheeeeee!!!

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Click here and here to see 360s of my cosy studio in London where I wrote and recorded the last album "Speak for Yourself" xxx

Monday, August 29, 2005


She's over the (big red) moon!


Red Moon
Originally uploaded by immi.


Well hello there. At LONG last...oh my...i am over the (big red) moon! RCA victor are now licensing the album for USA and Canada off of Megaphonic Records (me) and you know what that means don't you boys and girls...release date! It is....1st November...2006....not really...

Nov 1st 2005. I know it's still a way off but i thought that little joke may lighten the wait/weight. As with these things it takes 6 months to negotiate the right deal and then right when you're in the middle of something....it absolutely CAN'T wait a minute more... you must sign NOW. So they faxed it though to the guy who owns the studio complex my room's in who had to wait around for me to double check and check again...call my manager...my oh my...the time had come...As soon as I sent it back with a little covering note "All for one and one for all! To a long and happy relationship" xx immi xx I felt so good, relieved. Fingers crossed this is the right decision. RCA victor have really fought long and hard to get this deal and have been exceedingly patient with me. I am very much looking forward to working the album with them. They've already emailed me today about 20 times with all these ideas and putting things in motion. I'm all excited all over again. So...Hurrah! I met Larry Hamby (the VP of A&R) back in February of this year. Somebody had recommended him and his label for my album. My manager and I met him in his Manhattan office (some 43 floors up) over looking Times Sq. Immediately i warmed to him. I wasn't expecting to come out of that meeting seriously considering signing to them as they are part of the HUGE beast that is Sony/BMG but he really struck a chord with me and we have been in talks ever since. RCA victor's roster is very eclectic which definitely appealed to me. Most importantly they absolutely LOVE and believe in me and the record and that is THE most important thing. (by the way...they are also licensing for Mexico too but don't have a release date just yet)

Soooooo....what else has been happening?
Been doing a ton of press interviews and Q&As for various papers, mags and sites. Getting my patter back now. It was quite tough at first getting back into the swing of interviews after such a long time. For UK peeps check out this Friday's Independent...i think that's going to be a good little feature. Did the interview and pics just near where i live.

I've done my first ever remix for somebody. Temposhark asked me to remix their song "Hard Medium Soft" for their debut album "Battleships". My mix was called "HMS Heap mix"...get it HMS...battleships...anyway...There's also a certain Mr Guy Sigsworth who's done a remix for another of their songs "it's better to have to have loved". I've heard it and it is (of course) beautiful. Their rather cunning plan for the album is to release a double CD. One of their album and the other the remix album. They've also got Cursor Miner (who I LOVE!!!!) and Avril (who i also LOVE!!!) to do a remix...should be good...Their album is released sometime in January next year.

Then after I got that together i raced through my instrumental B-side for Hide and Seek (to complement the a cappella A-side) in time to get it mastered before this bank holiday weekend to make sure that it gets to be pressed in time for single release (which is now 26th Sept). I'm designing the 7" vinyl today but the small problem is I still haven't stumbled across a title yet. hmmm...As the track has no lyrics...it's quite dark. Filmic, orchestral.

I feel really good about the piece because I finally got around to using this idea i had from the beginning of making the album. Before the lighting and flower people moved in below my studio there was this large cavernous warehouse space that no-body was using. I'd come up the stairs in the morning and sing a loud note through the open door and listen to it echo. It was a little ritual. I really wanted to record something in there. When i heard this amazing trumpeter Arve Henriksen - listen to his piece "viewing infinite space" on this web page - was coming to London to do a show i pounced on the chance and asked if he'd come to my studio which he did. He is AMAZING live. You HAVE to see him if he ever comes by your town. I don't get all teary too often at gigs but i was blubbing hard that night. Just sooooo beautiful. There was this one particular piece where he improvised for about 10 minutes (it was just him on stage with his sampler). Recording his voice and trumpet as he went along. Playing over himself. My oh my I was very emotional! You can buy his Chiaroscuro album on iTunes too.....So...

back to the b-side. There was this small musical idea I had and i asked him to play over it. We recorded it in that big room with trains passing by every 3 minutes. Which was amusing to start with then rather annoying. The natural reverb was perfect though. What he played that day was just gorgeous but when it came to writing some lyrics for it i just couldn't find anything. So it got left behind and i felt bad that i didn't use this cool stuff he did on the album (i did use a little in "i'm in love with you" but not nearly as much as he should have!)

So there we go. Arve finally trumps loud and proud on this as yet unnamed b-side. Another wonderful musician came to my studio t'other day. You know my friend justine...

...well she's got this really cool friend called Linda Neil aka Lula Bliss (she's got no website at the moment soz). She writes and sings songs (she played me one while strumming her violin like a guitar! very cool) and she is an AWESOME violinist. It's can be a little tricky sometimes when a good friend comes at you with a "my mates a musician, you should meet" conversation but Justine really does know her stuff and wouldn't have recommended anyone if they couldn't cut the mustard. So Justine, Linda and I arrived at my studio last sat morning. The day began by me tinkling around on the mbira and Linda singing her violin away. I really get can't into words how exciting it was to be playing with her at that moment. I really felt like i'd met someone i want to improvise and make music with over and over. She has such a sensitive, expressive touch. Not too over the top which is easy to do on the violin. The tone is really lovely. I couldn't wait to press record! We recorded some 10 minutes or so of us improvising me moving between mbira and piano. It's not too often i get to just improvise with somebody like that. One day i'll get around to doing something with what we did while messing. Linda played some violin on the Temposhark remix and then played over the b-side and gave me tons of great stuff to play with. The next day she was zooming back to Paris where she'd be for a few days then off back to India to play in the mountains for a few more months. Lovely, spontaneous, big hearted, slightly crazy lady.

Tour...tour tour...this week i'm going to be frantically getting ready for these upcoming shows! I haven't even bought the gear i'm going to need to do the gigs and my first one is in less than 2 weeks. Shite. Better get it together quick sharp. You can find the tour info on the iCal page of the website. We're going to keep that updated now.

So there we go.
That's pretty much it folks. I can't wait for you to hear the b-side. It's very different to anything i've done before. I hope you like it xxx
love fluv xx
immi

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posted by immi  # 5:05 PM
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