Our Song of the Day comes from Seán R. McLaughlin and The Wind-Up Crows. Born on the island of Bressay in the Shetland Islands and formerly a member of the critically acclaimed indie-rock band Dante, the description of Seán’s new project reads: “Seán R. McLaughlin embraces Scottish folk roots on solo project with “band” who have yet to meet.” Some explanation is in order:
Since lockdown, McLaughlin has been working remotely with musicians and producers from all over the world (collectively termed The Wind-Up Crows) on his debut album, Goodnight, Lad. Ninewells, our Song of the Day, is the first single, set for release on October 6th. The track is primarily a collaboration between McLaughlin and The Felice Brothers’ producer, Jeremy Backofen. The two worked on the track remotely between rural Perthshire in Scotland and Hudson Valley in Upstate New York.
Seán tells us:
Although I’m keenly aware of this becoming a cliché, the new record wouldn’t have happened without the pandemic. You couldn’t pile a load of folk into recording studios – or it certainly wasn’t a reliable way to work – so I spent a good amount of time turning my garage into a home studio, then focussed on getting better at recording myself.
I’ve done bits of recording in the past but never taken on an entire album project, so it was a bit of a learning curve. It’s been great, though – I’m definitely now at the point where I’m comfortable producing and recording my own work.
Making a record this way gives you a particular sound that you don’t get with the time pressure of a commercial studio. Neither environment is better, and a lot of my good friends run amazing studios, but I think you can hear the creative freedom here. I take more risks on this new album.
This first single, Ninewells, was mixed by my mate, Jeremy Backofen. I’m a massive Felice Brothers fan (Jer did most of their records and was in the band for years), and so I love his approach. The files were sent from Perthshire in Scotland to Hudson Valley in Upstate NY, where Jer lives and works.
I was having a bit of creative block before I wrote this song, but the Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) book, How to Write One Song, really got me over the hump. The kick up the arse I got from reading that meant that I wrote Ninewells and a whole load of others.
The lyrics, for me, are about grief, stress and the loss of rational thought. It’s also about time and how our awareness of time is brought in and out of focus. There are more specific images in here that have a lot of personal meaning to me, but I hope others can get something out of it. I think the general themes are pretty universal. I was reading a lot of George Saunders at the time of writing as well, so I think that influenced my approach. He has such an amazing way with words, and his approach, for want of a better term, is so kind.
The drums were all recorded by Joe Montague in Leeds – he’s a phenomenal player, and his whole thing is recording amazing-sounding drums for songwriters/producers working in isolation. He’s a total Ringo geek, and so the drums are really vibey and 60s. I love Joe’s drumming and Vicky Gray’s fiddle playing on this track – Vicky’s an amazing Shetland fiddle player, and the tune she wrote for this song is perfect. It’s so cool how it cracks into life with her digging into the strings.
The new album is called Goodnight, Lad and will be released in early 2024.
Stephen Thom‘s mandolin and Shetland fiddle player Vicky Gray (read our review of her album Atlaness) lend the song a Scottish charm that’s impossible to resist, while Shetland double bass player Alex Johnson and Joe Montague’s drums and percussion add to the driving force, warmed along the way by some beautiful harmonies by the whole band with Lewis McLaughlin and Katie Mackie increasing the force factor on a strong lead single that also highlights Seán’s strong songwriting. His Shetland identity is stamped through Ninewells like a stick of rock; it’s a tremendous rootsy collision of Americana and folk influences that bodes incredibly well for their forthcoming album.
Discover more about the project here: https://www.windupcrows.com/