“I’ve been dreaming of this city for many years now,” he says of Larya, a place that reminds him of home and yet is always new, always exciting. “It’s an ideal city – never hot or cold, or loud or quiet. All is peaceful and still. And I think of it as representing an ideal state of mind, and inner peace – of perfection really.”

While each of Ed’s previous albums was written and recorded in different cities, he started writing Grains of Gold after he had moved to Hamburg during lockdown in early 2020. This situation as well as starting anew in an unfamiliar place and self-reflection represent important themes throughout the album: “My music until now has always reflected what I wanted to be. But I think that I am getting closer, and the music is becoming more and more what I actually am.”