Download/CD-R : Released December 2024 : Northern Echo Recordings
2. Scarabus - Part 2 (4.48)
3. Scarabus - Part 3 (4.25)
4. Scarabus - Part 4 (2.33)
5. Scarabus - Part 5 (4.04)
6. Scarabus - Part 6 (4.50)
Steve Dinsdale: Keyboards, Percussion, Field Recordings, Production, Editing, Mastering, Sleeve Photography
Kathy Disdale: Wave Drum (Track 1)
bandcamp
A brand new solo album inspired by and recorded during a trip to the wonderful Hebridean island of Islay. It has been a life's ambition to return to this magical place I visited twice as a child. I was stunned over fifty years later to find that it was as unspoilt and beautiful as I remembered.
During the day we explored the island in a series of beautiful adventures and in the evenings during the two week stay I recorded a series of musical sketches and spontaneous pieces using the three keyboards I had taken along with me on the trip.
They eventually took shape as this album, and I added finishing touches here and there in the following months until it was complete. It reminds me of a very special place in my heart and soul. Beauty on our doorstep relatively speaking, and an unspoilt paradise not too many are even aware of. I'm happy to keep it that way !
The music within reflects the elemental forces of nature so prevalent on an untamed landscape like this, open to the elements, and as well as the sun sea and sand, the darkness of long cold winters. But most of all, the mystery and the eternal beauty of millions of years of unchanging geographic features, the ebb and flow of the tide heard throughout the album in recordings made in these locations in between taking thousands of photographs.
As a friend pointed out, there is also a famous whisky from the island called 'Scarabus'. This did NOT inspire the title, nor was it expressly recorded under the influence (My personal favourite is Machir Bay anyway...the distillery was literally yards from where we were staying).
Rather the inspiration came from a road sign for a random place up a single track road, which of course we had to follow. It turned out to be a farm with some very fragrant but unique looking sheep. In Norse it means 'A rocky place' which perfectly sums up the spirit and appearance of the beaches around the island and its spectacular rock formations.
I knew I had my album title !