Apologies if this posts twice, but I just tried to post this about an hour ago and it doesn’t seem to have worked, so trying again.
I’ve made a wee album and posted it on Soundcloud. Link should be attached here. You can listen or download for free.
It’s very mellow, and I deliberately went for a pastoral, early 70s sound, like Hergest Ridge or Ummagumma. So if you like those you might like this. If you choose to listen, many thanks!
Oops, don’t think the link worked.
Stephen Merrick · The Electric Brae
@Arthur-Cowslip – I really enjoyed that, the general mellowness suiting my time of listening. It certainly has that pastoral, “Hergest Ridge” vibe…
Works fine for me as an early morning vibe as well – thanks @Arthur-Cowslip, that was exactly as you describe it. I’ve listened twice already! I especially liked Part 2 – the birdsong was a really lovely way to start it off.
Cheers Art, I’ll look forward to that. I could do with some chilled vibes.
…. It’s really good, enjoying it a lot and it sounds like you actually played it rather than pasting in a load of loops. 👍
This is really rather wonderful.
I’m on my second playing too.
Thank you very much.
Lovely stuff Arthur. Redolent of Mike Oldfield but not in a copyist way. Very enjoyable
Thanks for your kind words everyone. I’m always shy about making music, even though I love doing it. But I’ve had enough positive feedback about this little project, from here and from other sources, that makes me think I should just go the whole hog and do a short run of CDs for sale on Bandcamp or CDbaby, maybe 25 or something. Thanks folks.
Bandcamp is good as you can sell downloads too.
You’ll let us know? I’d buy this on a CD or a download from you, if one was available…
Lovely stuff, I’m listening to it while I work and it’s make it even harder than usual to focus on that work stuff. I’d go for a Bandcamp download.
This is wonderful @arthur-cowslip
Listened twice last night, and it set up a lovely mood for the evening. The recording itself also sounded great, and I’m impressed at how you managed to capture that rich, warm 70s sound.
Does the Brae in the title refer to Shetland?
Thanks. Yeah, all recorded the “old-fashioned way”, with a single mic and an 8 track recorder, only used a PC in the final stages to paste the different sections together and overdub orchestral sounds with an app thing.
The Electric Brae is actually a hill/road on the coast near where I live in Ayrshire. It’s a bit of a local legend because, due to some optical illusion, you feel like you are going uphill when you are actually going downhill. When I was wee we all thought gravity was being affected by the electricity pylons: hence the name!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Brae
Yes, indeed: when my sister and I were young, my dad used to take us to the Electric Brae – park up and switch the car engine off, then take the handbrake off. The car would magically roll UP the brae…never failed to astound us…
This is right up my street, enjoying it very much. Thanks for sharing.
I enjoyed that greatly. Well done!
Thanks everyone for all the kind comments. It’s now available for streaming on Spotify, Apple, etc, and there is a subscribe box on my website where you can register to be notified when I organise a CD and download release: https://stephenmerrickmusic.com
Slight teething problem in that my profile has been merged with an existing artist with the same name (!) and who seems to do Christian music (??), but I’m getting that sorted out. I promise you that the cover of “What A Friend We Have in Jesus” is not me….