Stuart Ironside

05/05/2026

This month in Latvia! One of three gigs I'm doing

Ir beidzot klāt šī gada labākais pasākums. Mūs visiem mīļais un iecienītais piektais gada mēnesis - Maijs!Plaukstam kopā, Līpuojā!

+programma

28/04/2026

Taking my sound to pastures new in May! My first time gigging in Latvia, can’t wait to share my music with new crowds!

See you out there!
Details at linktr.ee/stuartironside

22.05 - Kurte, Talsi
23.05 - Ex Libris, Riga
24.05 - Līpuoja, Rēzekne

27/04/2026

What a special evening this was…loved being able to present the new album “Music from Somewhere Else: The Wildlands” in such a beautiful space with such a wonderful audience!

It’s been one week since release, and now this project has presented itself to the world in full. What a ride it’s been, if only I could write better words about it…all I have to say is a big mega aitäh!

Thanks to for sound, and for the opportunity to present, and for creating such an ethereal atmosphere - it was a delight!

🎥

20/04/2026

MUSIC FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE: THE WILDLANDS

Out today!

The companion album to 'The Enclosure', this album is thirteen tracks of pure improvisation in duet with the sounds of Northern Estonia...an experient for me in recording and playing, I've been nervous about sharing this but it's one of my proudest pieces of work! I hope it will transport you Somewhere Else!

Available on all streaming services, find them at the link here and in my bio:
linktr.ee/stuartironside

My deepest gratitude for this and for this whole project to Kaur Einasto for recording, Joonatan Kivi for mixing and mastering and Freda D'Souza for creating the artwork!

Give it a listen!

17/04/2026

“The Wildlands”, my album of improvisations from the ‘Music from Somewhere Else’ project, is out on Monday!

I’m in a position where I don’t really get nervous before I perform, and people have asked me how and why…if only I knew, I could write a moderately successful book! I suppose one part of it is embracing that every music space is a unique moment in time, and releasing the obsession for control. Of course I rehearse and prepare, but whatever happens in the event will happen - the point is not to control but react and appreciate each event, whether that is an audience response or how my hands perform an improvised work.

This was the same approach that went into these recordings in the forest. Me and Kaur both went in with the mindset that “what we record could be s**t, but we out of this process will come something”. Thankfully we made a great record, but a large part of that is having a recording engineer (and mixing engineer and artist .souza !) who could relax me and create the space so the process could happen freely.

“Music from Somewhere Else: The Wildlands” is out on Monday!

14/04/2026

The spring days are here, and the latest chapter of winter is coming to an end. Soon the days will be filled with near-endless daylight, swimming, plant life, birdsong and the smell of grilling. If one were to ignore the news, life would seem pretty idyllic right now.

The final chapter of “Music from Somewhere Else” is out next week…as a subtitle, ‘The Wildlands’ is perhaps a little too prescient but I hope this album will invoke the peace of a forest in an imaginary land, and not a post-apocalyptic mad max style event.

“Music from Somewhere Else: The Wildlands” is out 20.04!

10/04/2026

Brushing up some older arrangements… my version of ‘Fali’, a beautiful West African song, from my first album!

Catch me playing this and other tunes (including some new compositions!) at my concert in , as part of festival for the second album of my ‘Music from Somewhere Else’ project!

Concert and listening party of the new album, 24.04 19.00
Ticket link in my bio!

10/03/2026

My new single 'ten' is available now!

When we went to record with Kaur Einasto in November 2024, I had been experimenting with improvisation in all sorts of ways...not writing setlists, changing my compositions subtly, approaching each audience as a fresh set of ears.

I had an idea to record, alongside my compositions, some material that was totally improvised - from scratch, on the day. We would go out into the forest, I would listen and play...something! Surprisingly, it worked! We did this many times, in November and May; so many times a whole second album was recorded!

The new single 'ten' is the first sneak peak of this. I hope this will be a new sound, a new exploration and a new energy - creating this was a lot of fun!

Listen here: www.linktr.ee/stuartironside

Thanks to Kaur Einasto for recording, Joonatan Kivi for mixing and mastering and Freda D'Souza for the artwork!

09/03/2026

Quite a surreal moment…’Music from Somewhere Else: The Enclosure’ has been awarded 4 stars from Songlines magazine!

There have been many kind words about this album, but to have a publication I’ve read and admired acknowledge my own work is…strange? No that’s the wrong word. Humbling? Nope. Gratitude-embigenning?

no words could say it, I suppose. It just feels nice

Thank you everyone for all the love! A few more surprises coming soon…

10/02/2026

With the album now a few months old, I’m listening back to the recordings and reliving the life cycle of these tracks

I wanted to take a second to highlight this one in particular, a beautiful Mandé song called ‘Soninké’ taught to me by . It’s one of the most complex songs of the tradition I play, and was one of the earliest arrangements I created from scratch. I’ve played this with so many people in the years since I learned it, and I’ve tried to absorb all of this knowledge and experience and create a guitar arrangement that fit all of the grooves, solos and melodies into one song.

But when we came to record it with , something felt…off. It was too all too much; the noise outside, the cold in my fingers, the feeling of ‘sweating and suffering without being useful’ (to rephrase something said to me once almost ten years ago in passing that has been living in my head rent-free since).

This take, the fourth and final, was the labour of me stripping away my ego and trying to get to the bones of the song. It was far from my favourite at the time, but now I think it’s up there! Sometimes, a step back from all your knowledge can be good!

What’s your favourite track from the album?

05/02/2026

I was sent these videos by .jaenes …her winter walks that have been accompanined by my newest album
It’s truly a blessing as an artist to see the different ways people connect with your work, how it forms a part of the rhythms of their lives 🙏🏻 I love to see it

“Music from Somewhere Else: The Enclosure” has been out for two months now!
How has it accompanied the rhythms of your life?