It's a little too busy for my liking at the moment. A good barometer for when the balance of my life starts to tip slightly is my chess play.


 
I'm not a crossword man as I don't read enough and words don't satisfy me quite like numbers do. Therefore, a crossword to me is not just unfulfilling; I'm also rubbish at them! Geometry, proportions, abstractions and the like are more my style. When I make music, I often think in terms of shapes and in the rare moments I write for myself, I am interested in simple words beautifully arranged. I doubt I'll ever be a novelist with that ethos!

So I am not partial to the Telegraph's cryptic crossword, but I do play chess daily. Probably around 20 moves a day on various games played at chess.com, depending on how distracted I am. Feel free to find me as "blackviking" on the website ("blackviking" was once a contender for my 'music' name). My Swiss-cheese mind has been making far too many blunders of late. When the current music projects have quietened down I prescribe myself a few days off for a mental fondue.

In the meantime, in between the business of busyness, I always find some calm in 90s RnB classics. It's so sickly sweet but occasionally delicious, like dessert wine. This über-hit by producer Donnell Jones has a supremely groovy underlying instrumental. Almost any vocal would sit happily on it. I guess he thought, "I may as well whisper something over this, it can't miss".