File under: Piano / Ambient / Modern Classical
In December 2015 I moved with my family to the Scottish Borders. Having lived my entire life in cities this was my first time living in the countryside. It was remote, living in a cottage on a farm up a single track road. Out the front window was an old farmhouse, looking down on these quaint workers' cottages. Out the back window were endless fields along with the sound of silence. And yet the countryside is never silent. We simply cannot hear the incredible noise made by animals and plants that exist all around us.
One of the first things I did when we moved to the Borders was source and purchase an upright piano. I’d not had access to one since I lived at my parents house in Dundee. Overstrung. The only choice. It took time to source one and to ensure that it was capable of being tuned. It was a beautiful creature too. Simple on the outside but when the front was removed the inner detailing was like a snakeskin - something that my piano tuner commented he had never seen before. However, it wouldn’t tune to concert pitch, due to its age. So, while in tune it was half a tone out and, as such, when working with other musicians I had to constantly explain the need to transpose. Still, it was my piano and it was on this piano that I wrote all of the movement one of Borders entitled Perseverance.
The titles come from Yoko Ono. Essentially, they were her way of saying Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Innocence, Exuberance, Reverence, Perseverance. The seasons resonated as a logical way in which to structure a 4 movement work about the Borders. The music itself, is without a doubt also deliberately reflective of each season. However, the record explores much more than this. It’s about history, heritage, identity, and citizenship. As I started writing it Donald Trump became a serious candidate for the White House, Scotland had denied itself independence from the rest of Britain, David Cameron agreed to a vote on the lunacy of Brexit and the idea of what a border was in the ever shifting political landscape became a fascination for me.
