If you haven't noticed, I like to write in an immersive environment. Sometimes this means setting up appropriate desktop or Tinderbox background images. Sometimes it means sitting in the bathroom with the door locked, locked in a silent world with the universe a mere imagination. Sometimes it means sitting in a dark room lit only by the LCD, headphones and hat on my head. Sometimes, it means sitting immobile in a restaurant amidst a galaxy of bustle around me.

Music often helps. As I've been writing about Nepal, I have been listening to streams of Claire Fitch's album, Ambiancellist. It has just the right mood for this kind of work. Mournful, pensive, but unobtrusive. I could listen to this for hours.

• looks at time*

I have listened to this for hours.

Go buy the album. It's Magnatune music, so Claire actually gets 50% of the proceeds. Non-draconian copyright restrictions. And the albums are cheap. Cheaper, in fact, than music from the Apple iTunes store. Oh, yeah. And the music is actually good, independent music. None of this plastic-wrapped commercial pop. Good classical music, interesting world music. Perfect for an eclectic guy like me or a discerning person like you.