Known for his blend of melodic Jazz and Folk music, Glasgow-based saxophonist/composer Matt Carmichael has released his new single Mangata, a piano composition featuring Rachel Sermanni’s soothing and wordless lulling vocals.
The minimalistic pureness of Mangata affords it a meditative quality that Carmichael discusses below, far removed from the landscape we’re used to seeing him perform in. The single is taken from his forthcoming new album Dancing With Embers (March 28th, 2025), on which he is joined by several guests, which, alongside Sermanni, include Brìghde Chaimbeul (small pipes), Chris Amer and Innes White (guitars) alongside his core quintet including pianist Fergus McCreadie.
Carmichael shared: ‘I listened to more singer-songwriters than anything else in the time period I wrote Dancing with Embers and wanted to create an album where the focus is on the song and not so much on having any typical Jazz solos… on live gigs the band have free reign and improvisation is at the core, but I approached the recording of this album a little differently.’
For all the intimacy Carmichael’s piano improvisation affords this piece, you may be surprised that this is his first piano recording.
‘I’d never recorded myself playing piano before this album and lack the technical skill I have on saxophone, but it felt natural to play on a few tracks. My way of processing emotions and meditating in some way is through improvising at the piano every day. I really like the intimate vulnerability of those tracks and give the listener a more direct insight into the creation of my music.’
It’s an extraordinarily blissful offering and our Song of the Day.
The superb video by Douglas Tyrrell Bunge adds to intimacy and magic.
Pre-Order Dancing with Embers: https://mattcarmichaelmusic.bandcamp.com/album/dancing-with-embers