Neo-Trad band Eabhal has announced a treasure hunt of iconic places of Scotland and Northern England to show how some of the most breathtaking scenery has inspired the music on their new album ‘Aisling’. The band have worked with The Bothy Society on this exciting campaign which, even pre-launch, has already seen people from all over the World find the ‘treasure’ left by the band in some of the most magnificent places in the UK, from Assynt to Allendale.
The band have merged online and offline with the use of augmented reality video and the popular activity of geocaching to get people out exploring the places that inspire them. Geocaching encourages people to use their phones or GPS devices to navigate to containers or ‘geocaches’ left at specific locations across the World. Fans and geocachers can use Google Earth to hunt down their boxes where they can note their find and take a postcard with integrated augmented reality videos of the band talking about the tracks. The postcards can be sent from the areas they’ve been found, and all feature spectacular photography from Eabhal piper Hamish Hepburn and one from Megan Mackay. For those who are unable to get around Scotland and the North of England, information on the tracks and photos are also available on the Google Earth page to make it as accessible as possible.
The band are keen to get people to delve into the story behind their music and appreciate the songwriting process in the way that people used to do when they poured over the sleeve notes of an album. Jamie MacDonald, the fiddle player with Eabhal, said, “For us, as folk artists, the history, culture and language of the tradition is massively important as much as innovation and evolution are as well. With Aisling, we’re really trying to emphasise this and invite the audience into the stories and the narrative around the music”.
Those who find the geocaches will discover hidden links to listen to the tracks and post comments about the music, the location and anything else they find on their journey.
https://www.eabhal.com/geocache
Eabhal formed as a band while all five members were based on the Hebridean island of Uist. On the release of their previous album, they were described as “one of the most talked-about young bands to emerge” by The National, and it saw them nominated for a whole host of Trad Music Awards.
As well as performing traditional songs alongside contemporary and self-penned tunes, the five-piece also draws influence from other musical cultures and unites these in their music. Aisling showcases an array of new arrangements and both Gaelic and English songs. A lot of the material came together remotely during the lockdown, and the title of the album Aisling (Gaelic word for dream), is in reference to the creative process the band followed while putting the album together – combining their musical ideas from a distance.
Jamie continues: “The album is a culmination of our creative work so far, and it draws heavily on geographical influences. Each track has a strong connection with a place and a time, as well as drawing inspiration from the people we have met throughout our travels as a band”.
The album was funded by Creative Scotland with the band recording at Gloworm Studios with acclaimed producer Calum MacCrimmon of Breabach and was tracked and mixed by Ross Saunders (Mànran), mastered by Michael Fossenkemper of TurtleTone Studios and features additional Bass from Charlie Stewart (Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2017).
The band will be performing a string of live dates, including:
24th June – Lochmaddy Hall, Uist (Ceilidh & Show)
25th June – Tarbert Community Centre (Ceilidh & Show) 20th July – An Tobar Mull
21st July – Ardgour Memorial Hall
23rd July – Glenelg Village Hall
27th July – Under Canvas, Inverness
13th August – Lochwinnoch Golf Club
16th August – Alnwick Playhouse
18th August – MacRobert Hall Tarland
20th August – Highland Games Sychrov, Czech Republic 24th August – Universal Hall Findhorn
25th August – Tolbooth Stirling
Aisling will be released via The Bothy Society (digital and CD) on 20th May.
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