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. 

Warsaw, part 1 of 2: Café Michelle, Friday, October 17th. 

if i could arrange for all of the birds in the universe to burst, singing, out of your screens, it would come close to expressing what performing twice in Warsaw over the past three days has done to my heart.  but i think this would probably be more frightening and chaotic than anything else, for those interacting with this post. and especially nightmarish for those who live in small apartments.

so for now i’ll just say thank you, as part 1 of a post in two parts, to everyone involved with the show on Friday night.  to Andrei, firstly, for helping me find Café Michelle in the first place – he wrote to me back in May with a list of venues in Warsaw, and Café Michelle was one of them. but it was only through his patience and persistence in connecting me to the owners that i managed to book the show at all.

as for Café Michelle, any venue that puts kindness, compassion and inclusivity so high on its list of priorities is my kind of place.  thank you again to everyone there for hosting the concert, and for your generosity and hospitality, and to Jakub for all of his help in coordinating details, and helping with sound.

when it comes to everyone who filled that room, and what we shared during and after my performance, including your words, hugs and encouragement that night, and your online messages since – i’ve held on to every moment, and every private word you shared with me, and will continue to hold on. as i hope you will. i’m not sure why i’m so lucky to meet only the most warm, open-hearted and beautiful people, wherever i go. but it makes me feel hope, in spite of everything.

also, i’ve made a small list of the songs you’ve requested for next time. so as some of us laughed about after the show, i definitely have to return. 🙂 and i will.  

i’ll leave it there, because some things are too deep for words – and because we shared those things on Friday night, after all. thank you, Warsaw. ❤️

love,
eric.

here is my guitar on a street corner in Warsaw, Poland. which can only mean that i’m close by.

i wish i had a better picture to accompany this post, but since i’ve arrived have mostly just been immersed in all that Warsaw is. including some time spent in Łazienki Park yesterday evening, where the autumn colours were so astonishing that to take a picture of them would have felt like trying to cage a phoenix.

i’m very excited to be performing here tomorrow evening, at Michelle Klubokawiarnia, as my first concert in Poland – see you there at 7:30 pm.

love,
eric.