3/9 Dispatch
finishing/beginning, winter/spring
My third album was finished on March 4, 2026. That night we celebrated at L’Express. My mother was in town, she didn’t understand what had happened that day to declare it done. The next day I woke up feeling empty, drained at the thought of the biggest project of my life being completed. I was already worn out by tour preparation, release plans, music videos, album artwork. There was no time to sit and revel in the album’s completion. My third baby, born to me but not yet to the world.
The days of mixing felt long, intensified by the cold and the far away location of the studio. Every day I would take the metro to the end of the line, then call a car to take me 20 minutes to my destination. On the highway I would look at the placement of the planets. I knew inside this time was special, yet I was too tired to consider it closely. I was living inside of my songs, intimately aware of details no one would likely hear. A song with overlapping field recordings: Two minutes under a tree in Hampstead Heath July 4 2025, New Brunswick ocean, and Bell - Cancale, July 2025. Only I knew that together, these recordings represented my past and future, woven into a song about a premonition, a memory that didn’t belong to me.
In another song, a field recording taken at the time of the 2024 eclipse runs underneath, cutting right at the moment the moon went over the sun. People kept asking me where the album was recorded. I never knew how to answer. The record was still being made right up to the end. Mid-February I was in Toronto sitting in a studio, clock ticking, finalizing the lyrics and melody for a song that would be recorded within the hour. A track that had been in progress for three years was only completed the day before I went into mix it, its lead melody cut at the final hour.
I wrote last year in the midst of making the record, of the seeds that slowly rooted to inspire its landscape. The feeling of spring has remained ever-present. That day with my mother on the coast, walking from Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay, somehow inspiring not one, but three songs. That was March 19, 2024. The first day of Spring. Two years later, to the date, I will board a plane to perform those songs for the first time, arriving in Glasgow on March 20. The first day of Spring.
I don’t know the future of this record, nor its home or release date. What I can tell you now is that it lives in a world of its own, and I feel is the most accurate representation of me in this time. Years ago I listened to Bjork’s Sonic Symbolism podcast. She spoke about the chapters of your life running in three-year cycles. It is not a coincidence that this is how long it takes to make an album, a book, or an exhibition. The first album covers the most amount of time, in her case 27 years, and in mine, 23. You are catching up with yourself for the first two albums, and the third is the most your own. I feel this strongly.
Today in Montreal the snow is gone. Alexandra has sent me the daffodil dispatch from London. I am going to ride my bike. Two weeks from now I will be playing in London at the Village Underground opening for Austra, a friend and ally who has played a big role in the making of this record. It is an honour to be opening for her in the UK and I hope some of you will be able to come. I will endeavour to write more. Already I am so excited to talk about this album, its influences, its stories. More to come.
Until next time x
Tickets here: http://tessroby.com/tour-dates
Updates
Exclusive merch will be available on tour - a wink of what’s to come! I have also put Ideas of Space vinyls on sale to help with tour costs, and my Paypal link is here if you want to support.
n10.as is turning 10! Next Sunday I will be DJing at Parquette in celebration of this momentous anniversary. Each host is expected to raise $100 for the station so please donate here to keep the station alive.
Reading: Bread of Angels – Patti Smith
Listening: John Beltran/Placid Angels – Canada, Ear – The Most Dear and The Future, Rei Harakami – [lust]
Enjoying: The thought of vacation
I look forward to the release of your album. I will listen over and over until the songs become part of me, although they already are.
I really enjoyed reading this Tess ❤️