After a lifetime of recording and releasing albums under different monikers, this is my first album under my own name. For most of my adult life I’ve been a full time artist, touring and releasing albums. Becoming a dad in 2019 it became clear to me that it was time to put down roots. I now live with my little family in a converted country church in the regional village of Majors Creek, in New South Wales, Australia.

The acoustics of our church are great for music, but it’s also our living space, so I can’t use it for songwriting all the time. Shortly before our daughter was born, my wife Rose suggested it’d be a good idea if I got a caravan, to have somewhere quiet to make music. The same week we went to lunch with friends and spied a beautiful old caravan on their property. The van was covered in moss and branches, it looked like it was about to be reclaimed by the earth. Our friends wanted it go to a good home, and we were happy to oblige. So, the little Futura caravan made what was likely to be its final road trip to our house, and has become a permanent fixture in the garden ever since.

After our daughter was born, an evening ritual slowly emerged. During the night, while Rose and Sunny slept, I would go to the caravan to write. I’d take my time getting there, wandering through the garden, looking at the moon and the stars, the shadows, the trees, leaving the responsibilities of my day behind. Opening the door to the caravan became like walking through a portal to another world. In that humble space, I could travel anywhere without leaving home.

Over 2019-20 I wrote hundreds of songs in the caravan, working intuitively and spontaneously, channelling songs with no conscious intent. What you have here is eight of those songs, taken from initial acoustic sketches and fully realised at Old Binda Road Recording Studio with Stephen Lindsay. The studio is a few hours’ drive from our place, so Steve and I would do 2-3 day intensives, pretty much every month for a year, mapping out songs and ideas together. It’s been a pleasure working with him, he’s been open to my exploratory creative process, for which I am grateful. It’s allowed us to make some real discoveries in the studio. I hope you enjoy listening to this album as much as we enjoyed making it. Thanks for your support, it means a lot and helps me to keep doing what I do.
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I’d like to thank all the great musicians who played on the recordings, you can see a full list of album credits below. Special thanks to Fiete Geier who helped to realise Full Moon Fever, and to Michael Mooney, who produced Almost A Mirror. Also big thanks to Kimmo Vennonen, who did great work on the final mixes and mastering of Caravan Songs. This is the first of a series of albums of songs from my caravan that I am planning to record over the next few years, I look forward to sharing the journey with you.

I still go to the caravan to write and to ruminate, though not as often I did in the first 18 months of Sunny’s life. My daughter has opened my world in ways I could never have imagined. Her presence is here in all of these songs, along with her amazing mum Rose. They are my two guardian angels, bringing love and learnings and making everyday a great adventure.

Much love
x Mikey