THIS IS A JOURNEY INTO SOUND

I've always felt that music is more than just something to listen to: it has been a friend, a healer, a world to hide away in when things get to be too much in the real world. It has comforted me in times of loss and loneliness, helped to sooth my hurts and stresses. And in the last few weeks, since the death of my Dad, it has been even more so. I didn't have much time or spare cash to buy records for most of last year, so my discovery of and listening to new music came mainly through radio, tv and YouTube. It wasn't until Christmas that i had any new albums to play. Two things struck me about the way my tastes evolved last year: one being that i started enjoying more folk-based music, but not the traditional kind; and the second being that the majority of the artists were female. Now, i'm not really a very "blokey" kind of guy. I have no interest in typical male pastimes like sport, cars, or diy, and i've never been "one of the lads". But my mus

Music soundtracks our lives. It speaks to us, heals us, helps us deal with troubled times, lets us express often unexpressable thoughts and feelings. It's certainly helped me through some dark times. My Dad passed away between Christmas and New Year. Although he had been going though quite a rough time with different medical issues, his admittance into hospital with pneumonia, and his low immune systems' struggle to fight it was just too much for him. He'd spent a lot of time in and out of hospital over the years with kidney failure related problems, a lot of time on dialysis. Losing my Mum suddenly was a shock that probably didn't help. I credit my love of music to my parents, my Dads collection of 7" singles and K-Tel " various artists " albums from the 1970s. From a young age i heard the sounds of Glam Rock and early seventies pop in the house, and the New Wave of Squeeze, Elvis Costello and Blondie. In later years Dad would listen to the Country m