Dakar Juin 1996,

Dans la chambre, par la fenêtre entre ouverte j'entends au loin les murmures du chantier, le bruit des grues et les cris des ouvriers. Ces bruits lointains se mêlent à ceux plus constants et réguliers de la circulation de fin d'après midi, 5 étages plus bas. Dans cette chambre de l'hotel Shokamon, seul allongé sur le lit, je pense à toi. Plus tard je m'endormirai et tu ne seras toujours pas là.
--

Dakar June 1996,

In the room, through the half opened window I hear the faint sounds of a construction site, the noise of the cranes and the workers' shouts. These far away noises blend with thoses closer and more regular of the slow late afternoon traffic 5 storeys below.
In this room of the Shokamon Hotel, laying down alone on the bed I think of you. In a few hours I will be asleep, still missing you.

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During these strange times of social distancing and isolation I have found myself having bizarre, vivid and nostalgic dreams, my subconscious recalling faces of the past, old feelings of longing and loneliness and forgotten sensations mainly of my childhood in Senegal in the 1980’s.

These recordings made mainly last summer try to capture these feelings.
Senegal plays an important part in the music, and I tried to suggest its ghostly presence by revisiting some of the recordings I made there with my friend Tom Hodge a few years ago when we were working on our album Landscapes Of The Unfinished.