A long time ago - well it seems like a long time ago now - I used to produce music. I did okay out of it. As a kid in my twenties getting signed to a label was a massive boon. Releasing music, working in a record store and DJing every weekend was the life for me and it seemed like it would last forever. But eventually you come to the realisation that you might actually need some money. You know, for food and stuff. For me, music production pretty much ground to a halt when I decided to go to university and pursue a career in design and I've not been back to it since. Not in any meaningful sense anyway.

That was ten years ago (depressing!). Since then I've managed to get my business off the ground and survive everything life has had to throw at me (less depressing). And now that things have settled into a rhythm again I have been back at the controls writing more music. It's been really nice getting my head back into Ableton Live and seeing how far the software has moved forward in recent years.

Is this a mid-life crisis?

Yes. No. Probably. I can't afford a Porsche. I'm under no illusion that this is nothing more than a timepass project for me to enjoy the act of making and playing music that I like. But I do plan on putting some of it out just for the fun of putting together a release. I'm sure it'll drop into the ether unnoticed but that's not what this project is about for me. I enjoy the process of making and mastering music and then packaging it up with artwork and marketing materials. I've chosen to work under a pseudonym this time around so that I can play around with the visual approach as well. I've released music under different names in the past but this time I'm interested in trying to create a mysterious persona, purely as an experiment to see how a particular character might be perceived and received. So say hello to Laura Norda - pun intended. Like most of my self-directed projects she's high concept and low rent and far more interesting than a 38 year old designer from Birmingham :)

A couple of half decent tracks have come out of the sessions so far and I will be looking to finish them off and have them sent out for mastering before too long. I may even ask a couple of old collaborators to jump in and put together some remixes for me. But as I say, this is a self-indulgent project without deadlines so things will very much happen as they happen. I will be sure to stick them up on here as things progress though just in case you happen to like that sort of thing.

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