However, it is the pop song—that perfect short form music that sticks with me the most. I remember Saturday mornings during the mid-eighties, pocket money in hand picking out the latest seven inch singles for my first turntable. I love the narrative, the hook, the emotion and memories created in the tracks of my childhood, which I still return too.

I was thrilled to have many of my favourite musicians contribute to this album, bringing their own take on narrative and story in the short form. A Saturday morning find, Graham Fitkin’s Hook opened my ears to the marimba, whilst my then college-mate Dobrinka Tabakova wrote one of my earliest commissions, Urban Folk.

Since East London in the early noughties, myself and Gabriel Prokofiev have collaborated and travelled extensively. Yazz Ahmed and Tunde Jegede provide me with the opportunity to explore jazz-fused electronica and the sounds of West Africa, both hugely important musical influences on my playing.

I have performed a plethora of arrangements by John Metcalfe—most memorably touring and recording his orchestral reworkings for Peter Gabriel and have recorded on numerous film scores by Dario Marianelli, including his most recent project with director Joe Wright Darkest Hour.

I was gently persuaded into performing Bach on marimba, which provoked me to compose Come sweet death. My final track Take me home brings me back to Wiltshire, where I grew up within a few miles of Bath and Real World Studios.

Joby Burgess © 2022