ILLUMINATIONS

The video in the header was filmed on a brisk winter day on Oslo fjord. As you can see it was freezing, but I was wrapped up very well, and radiant with the happiness of being out there in the wilds!

This version of The Spark on the other hand, was filmed by the lovely Gillian Eilidh O’Mara, here on the farm, in the high summer of 2025. It was a relaxed, connected performance - which is a different kind of joy - with André Silvestre and João Robim, and our friends Marcelo Oliveira, Miguel Riva and Francisco Carvalho. If you look closely, you’ll even spot Rumi wandering through the frame, keeping an eye on us.

The songs for Illuminations were written in these same grounds over the last few years, slowly shaped by the rhythm of the valley and the quiet emergence of the mornings. As you may well know, the music industry is a turbulent beast at the best of times, but in recent years, the digital world, streaming, the impact of Artificial Intelligence have made our paths very unclear. So I have been working steadily to place the focus and value on the flip side of that coin, on what I really love, and the source of our humanity - artistic work and creativity. Without the creative magic there is no Art, no songs, no industry.

We have been recording the album at The Village in Famalicão, André and Robim’s beautiful studio haven. The whole process has felt like a conversation between places: the warmth of Portugal, and the sublime winter of Norway — her landscapes, her silence, and the mysterious dance of the Northern Lights.

Lyrically, the album is my way of engaging with the questions and heartbreaks of our time — the magic, the ecstasy, and the fragility of being alive. I wanted each song to feel honest, unguarded, and luminous. I’ve been deeply humbled that the first wave of listeners and press have felt that honesty too.