I am delighted to say that if you wish you can now follow me on Bandcamp. It is a home for independent artists like me who would like the opportunity to make a living from their music. My five studio albums are up now on my Bandcamp site and I’ve written new liner notes about each one.  You can download individual tracks, albums or my whole digital discography.

Here is the link if you would like to follow me on Bandcamp: https://emilymaguire.bandcamp.com/

And please spread the word if you have friends you think might like my songs.  Thanks so much for your support.

We are now halfway through recording the vocals for my new album.  Endless cups of lemon, ginger and honey, waiting for planes overhead to pass, waiting for cars on the dirt track to disappear…

And actually, surprisingly, considering I am basically recording in a stand-up coffin, I am really enjoying it!  There’s something about the enclosed space, the black sides, the total lack of anything to look at, which is really focusing my mind on the song in my ears.

Christian, who is engineering, has the patience of a saint.  ‘Again’ is the word most used in any of our recording sessions – we are both perfectionists.  And this is the first time I’ve heard the strings we recorded months ago with Sarah King on violin and viola and me on cello.  They sound so lovely.

I am getting very excited about this record!  Can’t wait for you to hear it…

You can see a video of our recording ‘tardis’ in my Facebook Community Group.

I am back in the habit of writing a poem every morning after my meditation practice.  These poems are basically automatic writing – I don’t know where they come from, they just fall out of my head as I’m drinking a coffee.  This is the one I wrote this morning:

‘Song’

It’s running dry
I need a good rain
To soak the ground
Startle the seeds
Into growing
Growing something big
Something beautiful
That I could write
And you could read
And the words
Would dance
On the page
Like a dervish
On solstice night
And you would be
Lifted up
And out
Leaving the hole
Far behind
Suddenly elevated
In the air
With nothing but
The sun and
A single soft cloud
To come between
And you would
Know everything
You would be
The wisest of us all
You would understand
The colours
Of the rainbow
And why
The wind blows
You would touch
The stars
With your fingertips
Hold the moon
In your arms
Knowing there is
Nothing we need
We don’t already have
In our hearts
In our minds
That life is a song
A song we’ve been
Singing since
Beginningless time.

Today is World Bipolar Day so I’ve made a short video to mark the occasion, talking a bit about my own experience of living with bipolar disorder and singing a brand new song called ‘Stay’ (lyrics below).  The video is on my YouTube channel – here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46VZes0S6IU&t=2s

If you like it, please share it with your friends.

Here are the lyrics:

stay/elm/jan 2020

Life is never easy
Life is like a game
I was never good at playing
At staying sane

But I don’t care
I’m not scared anymore
Cos I’ve been there
I’ve been pinned against the wall
So I was hoping you’d stay

Cos I was going nowhere
Faster than a plane
Everybody’s lonely
In the pouring rain

But I don’t care
I’m not scared anymore
Cos I’ve been there
I’ve been pinned against the wall
So I was hoping you’d stay

Here come the demons
Calling out my name
There’s nothing like the feeling
Of being sane

But I don’t care
I’m not scared anymore
Cos I’ve been there
I’ve been pinned against the wall
So I was hoping, I was hoping
I was hoping you’d stay

I’ve just started my own community group on Facebook – a place where I can share my songs, videos, poems and blogs.  I am a bit shy on social media generally but I always love hearing from the people on my mailing list who reply to my group emails so hopefully the Facebook group will be another great way of keeping in touch. Here’s the link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/263924318517149

18 years ago today I sat down in my flat in London to write a letter to an old friend in Australia, Christian Dunham. I hadn’t heard from him for 3 years since he’d moved back there and I had no email or phone number for him, just a PO Box address. So I started the letter saying that this was a long shot as I was sure he would have moved on, and as I was writing my mobile phone started ringing and I answered it and a voice said ‘Hi this is Christian’. And that’s how I ended up here, 18 years later, living in the Australian bush. Fate works in strange ways :).

It is nearly autumn here in Australia. The days are getting cooler and the snakes are wandering around looking for somewhere to hibernate. I am so happy to know that spring is about to blossom in the UK and the restrictions slowly lifted.  Wherever you are, I hope you have been keeping well. If you’re on Facebook it would be lovely to see you in the group.

xx