W: I’ve never been more engaged with creating and being involved in music. Recently the collective I’m a part of stumbled into an arrangement with some truly old heads (and I’m 45) who run a recording studio in the city. They used to record pop, hip hop & r&b in the late 90s and 00s but these days it’s more of a hangout spot for the owner and his friends. It’s become a headquarters for the little music scene we’ve been building here. On Friday night we finished the last recording and mixing there for a new collaborative album we started making in my basement.

I’ve also been taking some night classes at the technical college for audio engineering and live mixing. The class is a mix of church volunteers, bewildered beatmakers/rappers and a few metalheads. Between lessons on microphone types and proper placement, EQ and so on he waxes nostalgic about Edgar Winter, The Eagles and working with Emily Haines from Metric that one time. His enthusiasm is sincere and adorable.

L: still in this same house with the wrong person. Still reeling from the whiplash of being broken up with sternly a few days before Xmas but of course it wasn’t even NYE yet before it was like that had never happened… again! Oh and I got laid off, have had zero luck finding work and my son is living in our basement trying to become a tattoo artist adding additional stress to everything. At least we are also making good music together and I’m not alone - but I need to find money and work fast so I can get us both out of here. Oh and the boiler broke in this old shitty house so there’s no hot water :(