Today sees the release of Cut and Run, the new single and collaboration from cellist Alice Allen (Lyre Lyre) and singer-songwriter Jenny Sturgeon.
Released on Hudson Records, Cut and Run is a song about imagined underwater escapism of slipping into a selkie skin, about a love that’s run its course, and having the conviction to call out gaslighting.
The release is accompanied by Film by Julia Parks (watch below), whose creative film techniques include found footage and coloured 16mm leader scratched, painted and eco-glittered, plus photographic methods using salt, vitamin C and washing powder on top of film, which was then exposed to light. It features reworked archive imagery from the 1974 film ‘Fish & Their Characteristics’.
The film compliments the song so well, not just for the escapism but also for the gentle serene movements it captures, the perfect match for the weaving of Allen’s cello and Sturgeon’s gentle meandering vocals.
Here’s what Alice and Jenny had to say about the song and video:
Alice Allen: ‘Jenny is an incredible song writer and I jumped at the opportunity to work on Cut & Run together. I’ve been very inspired by Jenny’s musicianship and songwriting in her other projects, and we met playing together for the opening night of Celtic connections 2022. I absolutely loved the freedom and creative process we had when working on Cut & Run together, expressing emotion and feeling through the use of harmony and textures. As well as using the cello, I also loved adding some backing vocals, percussion & piano. We hope you enjoy the track.’
Jenny Sturgeon: ‘I’ve been aware of Julia’s filmmaking for several years. I love the alternative processes she explores and the attention to detail in her work. Alice and I were delighted when Julia said yes to making a film for the track! The imagery perfectly mirrors the sentiment of the song.
‘After meeting each other at Celtic Connections Alice and I kept in touch about collaborating together. At that point I had the bare bones of Cut and Run written, and I knew Alice was the perfect person to work with on the piece. We chatting about our shared experiences and Cut and Run developed from there. It was a joy to send works in progress to each other and see the piece evolve. I’m over the moon to continue this collaboration and work with Alice on The Living Mountain Trio which will debuted in Shetland in May, along with fantastic multi-instrumentalist Grant Anderson.’
Download & Listen – https://hudsonrecords.ffm.to/cut_run.
Jenny Sturgeon: https://www.jennysturgeonmusic.com/
Alice Allen: https://www.aliceallencello.com/
Julia Parks: http://juliaparks.co.uk/
Hudson Records: https://hudsonrecords.co.uk/