Garefowl have shared Buthaigir/Puffin, the first single from their new album Things That Vanish, out 2 October via AD 93.
The album was recorded on Hirta, the main island of St Kilda, at night. Nine tracks, each named for one of the archipelago’s threatened seabirds — puffin, guillemot, storm petrel, cormorant, shearwater, kittiwake, gannet, bonxie, fulmar. The band were fascinated by the folk stories around these birds: in St Kildan lore they are primal creatures, preying on livestock, or the pelagic souls of drowned sailors.
They have produced music that effortlessly evokes the sights and sounds of the remote, rocky, seabird havens that make up the St Kilda archipelago.
Johnny Whalley on their ‘Cliffs’ Debut
Unlike the last album, there are no synthesizers this time. Instead, the production draws entirely on field and hydrophone recordings collected on St Kilda, and on drones created by Richard O’Flynn and Joe Gardner using X-ray diffraction: Rock or bone samples are analysed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), which creates a spectrum with peaks corresponding to the sample’s crystalline structure. The peaks in each spectrum were used to create a set of sine waves unique to each sample, following a method developed by Bill Sethares at the University of Wisconsin, and these sine waves are blended together to form the drones.
The project was originally conceived by Ewan Macdonald and his father Murdo, relatives of one of the men who killed the last great auk on St Kilda in 1840. Their first album Cliffs (2020) was put together remotely during lockdown, with synths augmenting strings and traditional instruments. We reviewed it here — Johnny Whalley called it music that “effortlessly evokes the sights and sounds of the remote, rocky, seabird havens that make up the St Kilda archipelago.” We also featured the band in Folk Show, Episode 82 and it was one of our Top 100 Folk Albums of 2020.
The current lineup has Macdonald on fiddle and smallpipe drone alongside Nathan Bontrager (viola da gamba, harmonium, banjo), Stuart Graham (bouzouki, harmonica, harmonium), Chris Jones (concertina, mandolin), O’Flynn (island sounds, percussion, XRD drones), and Jess Whelligan (cello).
Things That Vanish is available digitally and on LP from 2 October via AD 93.
GAREFOWL LIVE
11 September – COUNTY DUBLIN, IRELAND, Dún Laoghaire Folk Festival
28 October – GLOSSOP, UK, The Globe
29 October – GLASGOW, UK, Glad Cafe
30 October – LIVERPOOL, UK, St Brides Church
31 October – LONDON, UK, Stones Nest