KEIR LONG • SOMHAIRLE • RoSS AINSLIE & ASPENS FROM INSCH & EAS AN FHITHICH.
Field Recordings of Aspen leaves and their electro magnetic pulses captured by an Instruo - Pocket Scion - Bio Feedback Synthesiser. Keir Long plays extra Synth and Ross Ainslie plays the Pipe Drone (stolen from another recording session). I have mixed these four things and set them to some video I took of the Aspens at Insch about 2 years ago.
THIS IS DESIGNED TO BE A HIGHLY EMMERSIVE AUDIO EXPERIENCE PLEASE USE HEADPHONES.
Recently I’ve been reading books on the Picts and ancient Scottish history. It’s set of a cluster of things in my head and I have absolutely peppered the map with pins of artefacts and places to visit. This new found thirst for my distant heritage has already taken me to Argyll to explore Kilmartin Glen as an adult, I spent some time in this glen as a boy as my auntie and uncle live right next to it. It’s strange how when you are young you just fit right into your environment and don’t think much of it at the time, of course I knew there was ancient magic around, but I just accepted that and took it for granted. Through my reading and research trees have come up often, of course things made of wood rarely make it into archaeological record as they obviously decompose. However meaning and lore run in a deep symbiosis between human and tree, with the Picts and Irish (west of scotland “celts”) using an alphabet made of trees, in Ogham each letter relates to a type of tree, it is written vertically on a stem and is often found scribed on the flanges of standing stones. It is read from bottom to top…
I made a trip home a week or two after I’d been in Kilmartin and had found by chance, the blog of Alan Featherstone - the founder of Trees For Life. I was planning to make a trip up Glen Cannich and read several of his articles about exploring the place, this tipped me off to a stand of Aspens buried deep in the gorge at Eas An Fhithich. (Waterfall of the Raven / second sight).
| | | | | Eadha = Aspen
So I headed out with a pack full of microphones, a field recorder, cables, headphones, an Instruo biofeedback synthesiser and a medium format camera. I believe my bag was over 10kg, I had only two kilometres to go from the road but there’s no path and the terrain was challenging. I ended up on the wrong side of the river from the main stand but I battled on right into the precarious steeps of the gorge and managed to record a little of the Aspen leaves fluttering in the wind. I must say, despite the effort it took to take me there the sound did turn out to be very entrancing. I retreated back to my car being harassed by ticks and the absolutely malign Deer Keds. Deer Keds are horrific and violent parasites, I didn’t even know they existed till I made a trip to Knoydart in 2010 but now with the warmer weather they seem to be on the rise. I hate them!
That night in bed I listened to the recordings I had got of the Aspen’s leaves quivering and I found it to be beguiling and meditative. I hatched a plan there and then that I would call in at a stand at Insch on the road south that I knew quite well. These trees are far more accessible and some are at the top of a wee pap which meant I could really get about them with the microphones and the bio synth. I used a 1960’s Reslo ribbon microphone and a Sennheiser 421 in a mid-side (Blumlein) configuration to record the leaves. Going to the trouble of using these vintage mics really paid off and I hope you find the papery texture of the Aspens blowing in the wind to be as hypnotic as I find it.
Here’s some videos I made that should convey the quests I undertook better than me trying to describe them in words.
In my research into these trees I found some really great articles outlining their importance in the indigenous life the of my forebears. These old beliefs really resonate with me and have brought me a great deal of solace in this topsy turvy present. I can listen to this music and be transported to a place that is peaceful, in touch with the dead and indeed the whole universe.
I have tried a few times to write up the folklore of the Aspens but I must concede that I cannot do better than the good people of Trees of Life. Who have written such a concise and eloquent version that my attempts just seem second rate in comparison. So please check out the link below. Trees For Life is an excellent endeavour and the website is a trove of well researched and presented information. Peerless!
Little Grab, The Instruo - Pocket Scion - Bio Feedback Synthesiser & a magic mushroom. Please follow @earl.oflemongraab
The MID SIDE mic set up, with passive RESLO (The Beeb) Ribbon Mic and A Sennheiser 421 capsule thats been rehoused in an SM7B shell.
I REALLY HOPE THIS RESONATES WITH SOME OF YOU, I AM VERY PLEASED WITH WHAT WE’VE MADE HERE.
✴IF YOU’VE GOT THIS FAR, THANKS FOR READING.
AND A BIG THANKS TO THOSE WHO ARE DONATING, THIS HELPS SO MUCH WITH THE COSTS OF FUEL, FILM AND ESOTERIC AUDIO EQUIPMENT
✴With Gratitude
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