Paddy is a Zelig-like character along the timeline of Manchester’s musical activity. It’s a testament to his musicality that he has played with such a wide range of music and artists over the years, be it as a bass player, drummer, Hawaiian guitarist etc. or all these roles at the same time.
His own Homelife project released five albums in recent years, Homelife's sound was intricate but with a warm sense of wonder, a balance of songs and instrumentals. Many musicians contributed to the Homelife project, brewed slowly by Paddy in his attic before being taken out as a small orchestra for some very unique concerts.
Paddy’s attic studio is like the magic workshop – not only does he make music in there, but he also makes instruments, mends junk, films animations and constructs robots.
Never one to blow his own trumpet, Paddy quietly gets on with developing his craft. There is something of the fairy-tale cobbler working late into the night in order to make the finest shoes in the kingdom, or maybe the musical elves strike up while he's in bed.
On 'Dragons Breath', essentially an instrumental solo project recorded in parallel with Homelife's 'Exotic Interlude' (a new song-based album), there seems to be a link with his current interest in animation. It’s a cartoon-like music with parallels to Carl Stalling (Looney Tunes genius); dense with events, new textures and the colours of children’s paintings, 'Dragons Breath' sounds like a Swiss cuckoo clock made of egg boxes and horsehair, glued together by an African Moog player in a Vietnamese iron monger's shop.