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. Drones were created through a process pioneered by member Richard O’Flynn and Joe Gardner — rock or bone samples analysed using X-ray diffraction, the resulting spectrum mapped to sine waves.
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