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world still features as a theme, but I think that’s tempered a bit more now with the reality of having lived in the city for over two decades.”

Do you consider yourself prolific? “I’ve not really written anything this

year yet. We recorded this album in January of 2016, and it’s coming out in February 2017. And those are songs that were writ- ten in 2015. This year I’ve not really had the time yet. And maybe there’s not enough time between the last bunch of songs for me to find something new to say or a new way to say it. I think I don’t really have any- thing to say at the moment so I’m waiting until such time as I do.”

I notice many songwriters are fixated on the hours and days they think they waste not writing.

“Sometimes it feels a bit like that. This year could’ve been more productive but other things go on in a person’s existence, and living and family and friends and social life sometimes take precedence. And it’s important to have a balance because those things feed into the creative life. It’s not just all about rigidly putting words on a page. Maybe this year has been more about living a life!”

“B

ut I think when you’re younger, you have more confidence that what you have to say is unique and important and new. And

so you say everything that you have to say. When you become a bit older you’re more inclined to recognise the wisdom of not saying everything that you feel you have to say, and to understand that what you had thought were amazing personal insights are in fact a lot more common- place than your younger self might have believed. There’s a track on the new LP where I’ve kind of attempted to crystallise such thoughts, self-reflexively, into song. The song is called No Dawn Song and part of it says: ‘The songs of my boyhood were callow and candid/Revealing far more than the hearer demanded/Whenever invidious words are rewarded/ It’s then I’ll remember the songs of my boyhood/Mea- sured and guarded, the songs of my wizen- ing/They end as they started – in generous listening/ When I move into my doting and drooling/ It’s then I’ll recover my songs as a young thing/ When I move into my doting and drooling/ Then I’ll re-enter my dreams as a young thing.’”

The life that Alasdair has been living in 2016 has been dominated by one collabora- tion more than any other. The Furrow Col- lective, featuring Roberts, Emily Portman, Rachel Newton and Lucy Farrell have just released their second strange and beautiful album Wild Hog [which you’ll find high among the fRoots Critics Poll results else- where this issue… Ed.]

It’s starting to look less like a side pro- ject and more the other thing that you do.

“It feels quite natural for me to belong to that group. It feels so effortless; it’s almost like breathing air. I don’t even notice how easy it is. I sometimes forget that because it’s always good. Everyone listens to one another, everyone’s very responsive instrumentally and in every kind of way. I grew up with two sisters and a mother so I’m used to that dynamic. I’m used to a strong female presence.”