Faileasan (Reflections)

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Cat No: SRM004

Release Date: 14 January 2013

Label: Sradag

Packaging Type: Digipak

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 609613821561

Genres: Folk

Description
"Faileasan (Reflections) is the follow up to my debut album 'Dùsgadh,' (Awakening); and the result of a personal project to explore and showcase the unique beauty and intricate depths of the local Gaelic song tradition that I inherited growing up in rural Argyll. I feel that often Argyll is a forgotten area; people know about the Highlands and islands of Scotland, but maybe don't realise that Argyll has an exceptionally rich Gaelic cultural heritage. As a result of this, I decided to research traditional Gaelic material from rural Argyll communities, and new songs that were created from local poetry to reflect the cultural heritage of the area. I wasn't thinking of making a CD at this point, I was just interested in researching my local culture. I was lucky enough to spend time in the archives of the School of Scottish Studies, and I trawled through old books and manuscripts to see what i could find. When I realised that I had a wealth of unheard material, I decided to undertake a concert tour in the area, showcasing the songs in the areas from which they derived. Through this, the thought of an album appeared and I decided to just go for it!

The material for me is the real focus of the album and I wanted to make it feel as authentic as possible. I decided that every aspect of the album would be sourced from the area - from the songs and musicians, to the CD design, photography and studio recording. I hoped to both provide employment for local businesses whilst supporting local enterprise (Argyll is heavily reliant on tourism) and prove that you can create high quality products in rural areas. I also wanted to feature the wealth of musical talent that has come from Argyll on the album and I was really lucky to work with an array of our most famous exports, including Donald Shaw, Aidan O' Rourke, Karen Matheson, Lorne MacDougall, Sorren Maclean, Rona Wilkie and my brother Andrew. I also am heavily involved with Gaelic choirs in my spare time, so was really chuffed to be able to use them for backing vocals. Faileasan genuinely is a true showcase of west coast heritage, past and present in my opinion!

We recorded the whole of the album at the wonderful arts venue An Tobar on the Isle of Mull, in the very room where Martyn Bennett created his masterpieces. In fact, his family gifted his equipment to An Tobar, which added a lovely extra layer of authentic creativity to the process. I worked closely with Gordon Maclean, who also runs the venue, to create my own personal reflection of Argyll' cultural heritage as I wanted to portray what that means to me. It was just fabulous to spend time working in Tobermory on this project, and without sounding like a cliché, it was a wonderfully organic process. Working with such amazing musicians too was a real treat for me and I'm just thrilled that they all agreed to be involved.

Although this started as a personal project, I hope that exploring and strengthening this (in my opinion) under-recognised Gaelic area will help to highlight the natural transmission of culture from tradition bearers to the new generation that happens in Argyll. I'm hugely grateful to Creative Scotland for their much appreciated financial support and can't wait to release the album and start properly touring the material next year.
Tracklisting