Following the recent release of her debut EP, Atlaness, Vicky Gray has released a music video for the lead track, Teif on da Lum. Originally from the Shetland Islands, Vicky Gray blends her traditional roots with contemporary approaches to record production.
She is also a founding member of indie-folk-rock band Dante – just as they blur the lines between genres, Vicky’s approach to the reworking of the tunes she learned from her late Grandfather, the notable tradition-bearer and fiddler, Gilbert (Gibby) Gray is quite unexpected.
Of the record, she states:
“I still love listening to the old recordings of my Grandad Gray playing the fiddle and am fascinated by the history of the old tunes and the stories that go with them. He was a great storyteller and had an infectious rhythm to his playing.
By making a new recording of these tunes, I didn’t want to try to replicate them, but retell them. The four track EP moves from a fiddle-only arrangement, to the last track (Tief on the Lum) which has no fiddle on it at all.”
The accompanying video, a collaboration with Shetland film-maker, JJ Jamieson, lends itself perfectly to the track, surreal and dreamlike visuals featuring beautiful shots of the islands’ underwater seascapes, lends that timeless quality that feels totally modern but equally tied to much deeper roots that hint at a lost past. Nostalgic and equally pastoral in places, it offers a warmth that you’d be happy to linger in for much longer. Quite magical and visionary.
You can order the Atlaness via Bandcamp: https://vickygray.bandcamp.com/releases