Multi-award winning fiddler, composer and producer Aidan O’Rourke (Lau) releases his new double album “365:Volume Two” on 9th August 2019 via Reveal Records.
The 25-track deluxe double CD and story booklet follows last year’s sold-out “365: Volume One” with another beautifully sparse and emotive collection recorded with Mercury Prize nominee Kit Downes (ECM).
Bold, tender, full of old truths and distilled modern wit, “365:Volume 2” is built on the beauty of the miniature. It’s a collaboration between artists steeped in tradition but constantly breaking new ground.
In 2013, James Robertson – one of Scotland’s leading authors – wrote a short story every day for a year. It became an enchanting, roaming collection of fairytales and memories and provocations; that was only the beginning.
A couple of years later, Aidan O’Rourke wrote a tune every day in response to the stories. The result is a major new body of 365 tunes – a significant addition to the Scottish traditional music canon. “365: Volume Two” presents highlights from the heart of the project. Aidan’s playing and writing are renowned for deep lyricism and off-kilter twists, here paired with kaleidoscopic harmonies of Kit Downes on harmonium and piano.
Aidan says:
This music is about storytelling – how to tell stories without saying too much. James Robertson wrote a story every day for a year, and each one was exactly 365 words. It began as an exercise but soon it became an essential ritual. James found the discipline addictive and he emerged a year later with a beautiful collection of tales. They are big stories, real stories, mysterious stories, old and new and weird and tender stories.
I decided to test out the same process on composition, and in response to James’s words, I wrote a tune every day for a year. Inevitably the melodies are rooted in my own background as a Scottish folk fiddler, but when Kit Downes gets involved he takes the harmonies to the most wondrous places.
The new album will coincide with the launch of a sound installation 365: Stories and Music, commissioned by the Edinburgh International Book Festival supported by Creative Scotland and PRSF. The installation launches in August 2019 before going on tour. The EIBF describes the project as “a piece about storytelling: about how to tell stories without saying too much.”
Listen to: The Girl Climbed The Stairs To Bed below
https://soundcloud.com/tomreveal/aidan-orourke-the-girl-climbed-the-stairs-to-bed
Designed by inventor Yann Seznec in collaboration with design team Old School Fabrications, the installation is a piece of art in itself, beautifully crafted from wood and brass with no digital screens in sight. It allows up to six people at a time to browse and listen to the stories and music using headphones, maybe stopping at their birthday or a day with special meaning.
From January 2020, readers can also receive a daily story and tune to be delivered to their email inbox. The 365 Stories and Music will arrive every day free of charge – a daily miniature piece of public art, whilst a 30 disc box set is now in the planning stages for 2020 via Reveal Records, for those wanting to own the entire library of 365 tunes physically.
Praise for 365: Volume One:
‘An interesting exercise in music responding to James Robertson’s short stories, inspiring some beautiful nuggets from O’Rourke and piano/harmonium player Kit Downes’
THE GUARDIAN
‘365 is a huge undertaking by an obviously dedicated artist determined to realise an ambitious vision. Sky-high quality and a strong sense of artistic progression – an excellent piece of work’
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: FOLKRADIO.CO.UK
PRE-ORDER LIMITED EDITION DOUBLE CD WITH 24 PAGE BOOKLET
https://revealrecords.bigcartel.com/product/aidan-o-rourke-365-volume-two-double-cd-booklet-limited-edition
TOUR DATES
Aidan O’Rourke and Kit Downes have recently played select shows with The Unthanks, before performing their own headline concerts in May 2019 and dates for New Music Biennial (featuring James Robertson) in collaboration with director Shilpa T-Hyland at London’s Southbank Centre and in Hull.
Full details of live performances below:
MAY 2019
Saturday 4 May Hermon Chapel Arts Centre, OSWESTRY
Sunday 5 May MAC Arts, GALASHIELS
Wednesday 8 May Drygate, GLASGOW
Friday 10 May Moniaive Folk Festival, MONIAIVE
Saturday 11 May North Edinburgh Arts, EDINBURGH
Sunday 12 May The Old Bridge Inn, AVIEMORE
Tuesday 14 May The New Adelphi, HULL
Wednesday 15 May Square Chapel Arts Centre, HALIFAX
Thursday 16 May Artrix, BROMSGROVE
Friday 17 May Blackheath Halls, LONDON
Sunday 19 May The Forge, BASINGSTOKE
JULY 2019
JULY 2109 – NEW MUSIC BIENNIAL
Saturday 6 July New Music Biennial – Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, LON DON
Friday 12 July New Music Biennial , Central Library, HULL
Saturday 13th July New Music Biennial, Central Library, HULL
AUGUST 2019
Saturday 10 & Sunday 25 August Edinburgh Book Festival, EDINBURGH
Friday 21 August Southwell Music Festival, SOUTHWELL
OCTOBER 2019
Thursday 10 October Resolis Arts, INVERNESS
Friday 11 October Gable End Theatre, Hoy, ORKNEY
Saturday 12 October The Lemon Tree, ABERDEEN
Sunday 13 October The Ropewalk, BARTON – UPON – HUMBER
Wednesday 16 October Oxford Contemporary Music, OXFORD
Thursday 17 October University of Sheffield, Firth Hall, SHEFFIELD
Saturday 19 October The Toy Museum, BRIGHTON
Sunday 20 October The Old Fire Station, BOURNEMOUTH
NOVEMBER 2019
Friday 1 November, Mareel, SHETLAND
TICKETS: http://www.aidanorourke.net/Gigs (or from venue Box Offices & Websites)
Photo Credit: Genevieve Stevenson