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I used to work in a bookshop. I did a lot of night and weekend shifts and I could play music of my own choice if it was quiet and unobtrusive and created an atmosphere where people could browse and be alone with their thoughts. I would take down my CD pouch and stack the 5-CD stacker with Will Oldham, Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch, Richard Buckner and Edith Frost ...or Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, quieter Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and some sleepy slo-core like Bluetile Lounge or The Rachels. It was a forced experience that consolidated my taste for that kind of music, and also intertwined my love of music to my love of books, writing and stories.

New Leaf is, of course, a metaphor for a new chapter or a new beginning, or a new page in a book. It's also a line in one of my favourite Neil Young songs - 'New glass in the window, New leaf on the tree..." in From Hank to Hendrix.

So far New Leaf hasn't ventured far from the lounge room (although, that could be said to be quite a graduation from the bedroom ...). I made my first tentative steps by rehearsing with a friend, Larua, who plays piano. We would get together at my place, drink decent red wine (the better the wine the better we would play), cook sometimes, and eventually get around to playing. Laura is an accomplished actress and has studied music classically. She has brought two songs to the New Leaf repertoire, too, but she is currently interstate doing a masters in creative writing and philosophy - as if she's not brainy enough already.

I've started to demo a few songs using pro tools. I'm still learning the shortcuts and it feels like an arm-wrestle between technology and creativity, but recording is addictive. It's so frustrating, it's like torture ... but I can't stop.

Tracy