Music by Robert Sword included in BBC’s ‘Panorama’

My track ‘Hilltop Sunset’, which Motus Music released earlier this year, was featured in the soundtrack of a recent Panorama broadcast on BBC One. You can find the episode here (my track is used from 13:30 to 15:10) and listen to the track here.

Performing at Medicine Festival

I’ll be playing piano and a few choice synths with Warrior Monk & The Frequencies at Medicine Festival bright and early this Sunday morning. I’m excited to perform and attend this festival for many reasons, but not least because it’s at Wasing Estate. I went to a wonderful Ben Howard gig there just over a … [Read more…]

Thirty years of ‘thirty years of hurt’

Once again, there is a palpable feeling that maybe the England team might, in the 2026 men’s football World Cup, make it to… let’s not say any more. One consequence of this is that I’ve been hearing Three Lions around the place a decent amount and, once again, I’m reminded what a brilliant, moving but … [Read more…]

(re)breaking the ice

Now that we’re over halfway through 2025, I figured it was time to post some sort of update on this site, even if it is merely an “I’m still here and still cracking on” type post. This year has been generally busy (certainly moreso than I was expecting) but I’ve had some time to work … [Read more…]

5 years on from Covid- some personal reflections

I think we can safely call it spring now, here in the UK. It’s the end of the first week of consistently decent weather in southwest England and the delicate sounds of afternoon birdsong fill the air. Birdsong is a beautiful sound, redolent of hope and renewal, but it is now tinged with some ambivalence. … [Read more…]

Interview with Rhonda Rizzo

I recently had the privilege of doing an interview with writer and piano enthusiast Rhonda Rizzo about my new album, Sun and Moon, Sea and Land. I talk a bit about some of the inspirations behind the album as well as the musical journey I’ve been on with it. You can read the whole thing … [Read more…]

Sun and Moon, Sea and Land is out!

Today is the day my second piano album comes out. I’m really proud to share it with you all. Below is a comprehensive embed with links where you can find it.

Reflections, 1.5 hours before an album release

In an hour and a half’s time, Sun and Moon, Sea and Land will magically appear on all music stores for you to listen to at your leisure. It’s an album of pieces that I’ve practised, tweaked, performed and recorded many, many times, but it still feels fresh and new to me, which I think … [Read more…]

Radio roundup

I’m very grateful for some of the radio play the new album’s had in the last few weeks ahead of its release on the 29th of this month. Firstly, thanks to BBC Sounds for including one of my new album tracks in the latest edition of ‘The Sleeping Forecast’. I always enjoy listening to these … [Read more…]

Steep 900 Celebrations

On Saturday night I had the huge privilege of performing at the Steep 900 Celebrations, playing some beautiful music celebrating the South Downs Way by Damian Montagu, alongside The Tippett Quartet, Stewart Prosser, Dave Gale and Will Spencer. I was also honoured to accompany the brilliantly talented violinist Alexandra Peel to perform Vittorio Monti’s Czardas and Vaughan Williams’ … [Read more…]

A French exit from an American party

“Hey everyone. I’ve decided the toxicity of this hellsite has gotten too much since Musk got his mitts on it. I’ll be joining ‘Threads’ and shortly resuming all of the usual compulsive behaviours that I had with Twitter which I am now, for some reason, falsely remembering in its pre-Musk era as a chaotic but … [Read more…]

Lam-brass-ted – facing the music- and musicians- as a composer

Ever had the urge to just… flee? To get out of the immediate situation you’re in and deal with the social repercussions at some future date? It was a small but not insignificant part of university life as a composer to bring in compositions to ‘workshops’, to be played by touring musical ensembles. While these … [Read more…]

New album – Sun and Moon, Sea and Land – 29/11/24

I am excited to announce that, after many years in the works, piano album no. 2 will shortly be let loose into the world. It’s called Sun and Moon, Sea and Land and is loosely inspired by Herman Hesse’s 1930 novel Narcissus and Goldmund and that story’s themes of time passing, mortality, beauty and adventure. … [Read more…]

‘1984’ at the Theatre Royal Bath (& Tour)

For the last month and a bit I’ve been working with my friend Giles Thomas on the music for Ryan Craig’s adaptation of 1984. Directed by Lindsay Posner and starring Keith Allen, Mark Quartley, Eleanor Wyld and David Birrell, the show is at the Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday and then on tour to: I … [Read more…]

The remise of physical media, and of an old CD

How much digital music and film have I bought? I think I ‘own’ virtual boxsets of a couple of TV shows and have a tentative digital music collection too. But I am undisciplined about where I store it or what account it is linked to, and so on. And some of the services I purchased … [Read more…]

‘Among Summer Hills’ on BBC Sounds: The Sleeping Forecast

It was a lovely surprise to see an email from BBC Introducing this morning mentioning that my piece ‘Among Summer Hills’ from the Evening Chorus EP I (re)released last year had been included in the latest episode of The Sleeping Forecast. This one’s theme is the summer solstice and the history of Stonehenge (“It’s killing … [Read more…]

Daily Damocles: The Shining People of Spotify

Q: What’s the one thing that’s even less profitable than streaming music? [drum roll] A: Sitting and checking your music’s streaming statistics. Spotify for Artists is just one of many tools that tells you loads of quite specific statistical information about your listeners, such as what cities they are concentrated in, how many tracks each … [Read more…]