Neal Heppleston is a bass player and double bass maker located in West Yorkshire who’s also a much-in-demand musician. He has worked with many of the artists featured on Folk Radio, including Jim Ghedi, Sharron Kraus, Big Eyes Family Players, Cinder Well and Nick Jonah Davis.
In 2019 he released his debut album, Folk Songs for Double Bass, from which we featured a track in our Folk Show (Episode 57). Next month, he is releasing his new solo album, “Plankton and the Whale Shark” (25th November 2022 via Hopton Records – vinyl/digital). Despite being a solo album, the cast of contributors is very impressive and includes Robert George Saull, Guy Whittaker (Big Eyes Family Players, Bobby Lee), Graham McElearney (Åyusp), David Broadhurst (Pet Rescue), James Mainwaring (Roller Trio) Thomas Méreur, Nick Jonah Davis, Jim Ghedi, Amelia Baker (Cinder Well), DBH (Irma Vep, Kiran Leonard), Aby Vulliamy (Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Bill Wells), Aaron Martin (From the Mouth of the Sun), Sharron Kraus and Hayden Berry (Visionary Hours).
Neal initially set out to make an ambient record but instead decided to expand it into what we hear now: a rich, detailed, textural and multifaceted record that spans multiple genres. “It really grew into something else,” he says, describing the end result as “atmospheric and cinematic with elements of minimal jazz, ambient, avant-garde, psychedelic rock and post-classical.”
Watch the accompanying video for his lead-single Ebisu (the Japanese god of Whale Sharks), which is released today. The soundscapes Neal creates on Ebisu are mesmerising, and the accompanying film demonstrates how intuitive his translations of movement and light are; it’s a deeply immersive listening experience that you don’t want to end.
Neal reveals that “Each track was created as an imaginary soundtrack…I came up with a concept for each track and tried to envisage music to fit the feeling or the movement of the idea.” Ebisu was created using a bass guitar, played by Heppleston through a variety of effects, and then augmented with Bamboo Flute (played by Sharron Kraus) and Clarinet (played by Hayden Berry).
Pre-Order Plankton and the Whale Shark (Vinyl/Download) via Bandcamp: https://nealheppleston.bandcamp.com/album/plankton-and-the-whale-shark
Neal’s new album “Plankton and the Whale Shark” will be released by Hopton Records on 25th November 2022 on Vinyl and Download. https://nealheppleston.bandcamp.com/album/plankton-and-the-whale-shark