Caravan Up North is the latest track from Shooglenifty‘s forthcoming 9th studio album Acid Croft Vol 9 to get the mad and brilliant ‘bandmade’ video treatment.
The album follows just over a year after Written in Water and was recorded in November 2019 at Watercolour Studios in the Scottish Highlands.
The track is made up of two tunes: The Caravan Up North Tour is credited to band member Ewan MacPherson: “This title of a highland tour back in 2014 was emailed to thousands of promoters all over Scotland, by our erstwhile agent. Caravans up north are also temporary homes for various Shoogles.”
…and traditional tune An Robh Thu ‘Sa Bheinn – Were You in the Hills?: Band member “Kaela [Rowan] heard this waulking song sung by Mary Morrison, Isle of Barra, luckily captured on recordings by folklorist John Lorne Campbell. She was an incredible singer who basically rocked it. Waulking songs helped liven up the otherwise monotonous work of stretching out tweed cloth for days on end. As usual, we’ve shoogled things about a bit.”
This video was shot in July 2020 while restrictions for band members getting together in Scotland were still in place. It is another ‘bandmade’ video direct from our collective imagination, so we have no one to blame but ourselves …
Acid Croft Vol 9 is notable also as the first album with the new line up featuring Eilidh Shaw on fiddle and there’s also a surprise for long-term fans: “But don’t worry, Angus is in there too, as we’ve been able to include Silence of the Trams a tune he was working on shortly before he died. He’s never far away from the band when we’re together playing tunes so it’s great to include this composition and others inspired by our late frontman”. Read Folk Radio UK’s tribute to Angus here.
Acid Croft Vol 9 is released 18th September 2020
Website: https://www.shooglenifty.com/