Pianist/vocalist Hamish Napier (Back of The Moon, Man’s Ruin) and fiddler Adam Sutherland (Treacherous Orchestra, Session A9, Croft No. 5) join forces in a new and exciting album project called ‘Nae Plans‘.
The concept was to record an album that was strictly unrehearsed (the pair barred any discussion between themselves about what tunes they would play or how they would arrange them). The material ranges from traditional songs and tunes, to contemporary numbers, to their own compositions and improv. The recordings capture the duos raw creativity and demonstrates their outstanding musical intuition. The live performances display a kind of electricity and excitement by the off-the-cuff nature and highlight every nuance. Each performance is unique and demonstrates the incredible talent of two of Scotland’s foremost musicians. As they allow themselves the freedom to experiment, ‘Nae Plans’ becomes ‘Nae limits’.
Beautifully recorded by acclaimed engineer Barry ‘Spad’ Reid, this field-recording consists entirely of first-takes: nae edits, nae overdubs, nae plans, harking back to an older way of recording folk music in the spirit of folklorists such as Alan Lomax. The two folkies draw their inspiration from other musical styles present in their lives, and freely express this. Chaos, raw energy, outrageous risk-taking, delight, joy, aching poignancy and humour – all in abundance in a series of enthralling performances captured in a wee Highland cottage in the depths of winter.
Hamish and Adam enlisted the help of artist and multimedia-maestro Somhairle Macdonald to film the process. The ‘folk’umentary made its debut at the album launch. The teaser trailer is below and you can now watch the full video on the website (see Home page).