Garefowl‘s new album, Things That Vanish, was released on October 2nd via AD 93. It’s unlike any other album you are likely to hear this year. The musical project was originally conceived by Ewan Macdonald and his father, Murdo, relatives of Lachlan MacKinnon, one of the men who killed the great auk on Stac an Armin in 1840. Garefowl members now comprise: Nathan Bontrager (viola da gamba/harmonium/banjo), Stuart Graham (bouzouki/harmonica/harmonium), Chris Jones (concertina/mandolin), Ewan Macdonald (fiddle/smallpipe drone), Richard O’Flynn (island sounds/percussion/XRD drones), and Jess Whelligan (cello). The album offers an insight into some of the most beautiful creatures that occupy St Kilda today: nearly a million breeding seabirds. It is the largest colony in the North Atlantic. As they say: It is not too late to learn the lessons of the past.
Their first album, Cliffs (2020), was put together remotely during lockdown, with synths augmenting strings and traditional instruments; on this latest offering, the synths are replaced by field and hydrophone recordings collected on St Kilda, and on drones created by Richard O’Flynn and Joe Gardner using X-ray diffraction.
One of the first tracks we shared from the album was ‘Buthaigir/Puffin’, and they’ve just shared a video for it. The video, directed by Luke Nairn and animated by Liam Painter, combines live stop-motion stone animations, 16mm performance footage, and B-roll from the album recording process on St Kilda.
Director Luke Nairn says: “I was so inspired by how the actual album was made that I really wanted the video to reflect the recording process and how the band worked with their surrounding environment on St. Kilda. I started having conversations with animator Liam Painter about how we could pull this off and we landed on a stop-motion dance with rocks, inspired by a piece made in the 60s by legendary Czech animator and filmmaker Jan Svankmajer. Bringing performance and the animation together felt like the right way to honour the emotion of the music and the project’s roots; I very much wanted it to feel like you’re flipping through a picture book about a folk tale.”
In our Track-by-Track feature, they shared this on Buthaigir/Puffin:
We recorded the album at night, stepping outside during breaks to take in the late-night soundscape of Hirta: a quietly rolling swell of wind, waves, seabirds, sheep, and the otherworldly thrum of the snipe. While we were recording this tune, a ewe poked her head through the door in search of her lamb.
Things That Vanish is available digitally and on LP now via AD 93.