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release date: October 5, 2024.

Saxophone and objects: Raymond MacDonald
Saxophone and objects: Robert Burke
Double bass: Una MacGlone
Theremin and cello: Jessica Argo
Percussion: David Robertson
Piano: Maria Sappho

Recorded by Murray Collier on April 10th 2024 at La Chunky Studio Glasgow
Mixed and Mastered by Robert Burke

I remember from childhood; my favorite section of a river walk we’d do most Sunday afternoons. The path became stonier, it started twisting, the trees and undergrowth became taller and denser, enveloping the space. I loved the feeling that I was leaving the familiar. I would always imagine that the path itself could decide to change and then I could move to a different river, a new town.

Rob is coming from Australia to stay with me, and we make preparations to record together. Emails and phone calls ensue as I try to confirm where and when to record, and who is available. The dates, times, location and personnel evolve and change, and even on the day itself I am not quite sure exactly who will be there and what instruments will be played. As the day unfolds people come and go as their schedule permits. Surprise appearances are made, and the music ebbs and flows in response to the arrivals and departures and, of course, the banter.

My train was canceled so I find myself in Glasgow for an extra day. I need some clean clothes and more importantly some piano preparations… Off I go to the local friendly hardware man who is baffled by my explanation of looking for things for inside the piano. I find a lovely orange three piece suit in the charity shop. I spill coffee all down the front of said new suit and I dig about in the piano with clothes pegs and steel rods… grateful there are string players with some rosin to share.

Going out to work with my bass is moving down three flights of stairs, making tiny changes in angles, carefully carrying, left hand tracing the wall on the way down. We move together.

My experience of this collaboration feels like an extension of friendship. It began with Raymond through our ongoing musical and research collaborations, then extended to Maria, and more recently to Jessica and Una. I met David on the day of the project! The lead-up was centered around the idea of coming together to create something – improvisation is how we function, and that’s exactly how it unfolded. We improvised every step of the way, from planning to recording. The music we created was entirely improvised, with each of us bringing our shared belief that improvisation lies at the heart of our creative expression. We thrive on the chaos of getting the studio organized and then arriving. Excitement about what is possible. Creating new extensions and understandings of our relationship with one other. Total trust in the music, the process and each other. Is there any other way?

Out of the door, one of hundreds of ritual journeys walking towards the space, not knowing, never knowing exactly how it will be. The walk is time traveling, the space connects to all of the other improvisations, and creative connectivity. The people, the stream of music.

Searching over a bridge crossing the river, a tunnel over the trains, bike over the road, following a feeling and a burrito.

I returned to lachunky, or as I call it “my living room” for what must have been the 100th time. I am used to rehearsing and recording fixed repeatable protest songs for activism… but I was so excited as the room filled with string instruments, synthesisers, saxophones, hardware store contraptions, childrens toys, world instruments and multiple saxophones to play whatever arises – playing the theremin led me to weave my arm over, round and under other players, our limbs tangling like branches, the cables like vines…

From start to finish two constants keep our confidence and spirits high. The friendships that we all share, and our trust in the process of improvisation. The music is improvised, and any situation that arises becomes an emergent feature of our recording and gently folded into the music. We trust this process completely and implicitly. Our friendships not only mean we trust each other with our artistic vulnerabilities and give each other permission to be what we want and need to be in the moment, but our friendships also facilitate the music to flow from the joyful community we are part of. We look forward to and revel in the joy of being together in the music. Improvisation and community are what makes this encounter joyous and rewarding.

Crossing the road, through the tunnel, the cobbles are uneven. On the wall someone has graffitied ‘shaking voices raised together are loud and beautiful’

As I dash off to my new train I realize I have forgotten my purse… another missed train.