Helmsdale CD available now!
Category : Music
My new short album Helmsdale is now available for sale on CD. You can go get it right now on my Bandcamp page – you can buy the digital files for just £4 or for an extra pound (plus shipping) you get a beautiful CD.
The album was made entirely out of sounds I recorded in the small village of Helmsdale in the Scottish Highlands during a residency at Timespan. You can learn about the project here.
I only have 75 or so of these CDs for sale – but if you manage to get up to Helmsdale you can also get it in the Timespan shop (be sure to say hello to everyone there for me).
I heard you on radio Scotland today. It reminded me of a trip to Orkney me and my girlfriend, at the time, made back in 1989. On the way back we stopped in Helmsdale. The whin flowers [gorse] were just dying off and the broom was in full bloom. We found an old battered and half burnt piano on the grass across the road from the houses. We spent some time taking turns just knocking bits of tunes out of it. We were curious as to what the story was. Eventually someone passing told us that there was a guy that went to the pub and got drunk every night. One night on getting home he tried to make something for himself to eat and set the house on fire in the process. The damaged piano was lifted out and dumped across the road. I still have the photos if you want to see them.
I found the start of the first track played by Janis Forsyth very moving, but I have become allergic to beats almost entirely because I feel it actually imprisons far too much music, which is surely meant to be freeing.
All the best,
James.