Substack April 21st 2026

Thank you for your patience during my little hiatus. I needed some time to feel excited about things again after Tony.

This album has been such a bright, creative space, I wanted to step away until those ripples of excitement started again.

I have two more songs to share with you before the album arrives on June 5th.

The one I’m sharing today, Clydach, was the first I wrote for the record and it’s where the whole science thread began.

I was so captivated by a University of Bristol paper on pond audio and their recordings made with underwater microphones. They revealed this constant, intricate life beneath the surface, creatures, singing and tapping and croaking, day and night.

And around the same time, I read about the draining of Clydach Reservoir. All that vibrancy gone in a morning. That’s where the song came from.

Just yesterday as I was putting this story together, I read about Nant y Ffrith reservoir being emptied, and the presumed loss of a thousand toads. That one made the news too.

The same story, just a different part of Wales. I thought about all the people who, year after year have helped the toads across the busy A525 road. The way they came out because they cared. I thought that was beautiful. I just want people to care. About each other and about this magical home of ours and the extraordinary life it cradles.