Constant Follower & Scott William Urquhart
Stirling-based Constant Follower, and renowned folk guitarist Scott William Urquhart share first single Waves Crash Here from forthcoming collaborative album, Even Days Dissolve, due for release on 14 April.
Alongside the single comes stunning stop motion video by George Farrow-Hawkins, with the central focus being a life-sized puppet who is styled to resemble the song's guitarist, Scott William Urquhart. Intimate and comforting, the video captures the interiority of the songwriting process in a unique and moving fashion. Discussing the video Constant Followers McAll comments: “There’s something about stop motion that's realer than real. I think it’s like music where even the simplest thing, if done right, can really hit you in the belly. This film that George (Farrow-Hawkins) made for our ‘Waves Crash Here’ has that special quality… and I think some of that power comes from the honesty of his interpretation. The song is so ‘outdoors’, referencing the Scottish expanse, nature, wildlife, and that’s how I imagined he'd interpret it. But George brought it inside, into the artist's writing process - where the song was written. A song might be born in the outdoors and thinking of all these fresh and beautiful things, but we’re still sitting in our darkened room in a stolen moment, alone, writing the thing. I realised that this part of it is pretty much forgotten to the listener as well - they're probably also sitting in a darkened room thinking about the Scottish wilderness listening to the song! So the film perfectly captures that moment. And it’s a creepily realistic version of Scott! He was completely freaked-out when he watched it for the first time. His movements, the way he slants his legs when he plays, it’s just uncanny, and it adds a different dimension to the meaning. Which is exactly the reason I like to leave it open to the filmmaker to interpret the song as they hear it.”
While the video’s creator George Farrow-Hawkins adds: "Central to this video accompaniment for Waves Crash Here, is the puppet who resembles the songs collaborator, Scott William Urquhart. The film started as an attempt to capture the character of how Scott plays. A style, I observed closely through meeting with Scott and recording a him performing the song. To have this record of our meeting, enabled me to examine, not only, the finger patterns of which the song consists but also the mannerisms which punctuate Scott’s performance.
The view, which can be seen within the film, of the dimly illuminated building, is a miniature replica of the view from my kitchen window. Through repeated listen’s to the Waves Crash Here, whilst working on the animation from my home, my feeling towards the song became inextricably tied to these sites that surrounded me. Namely this view, from this window.
This nondescript building, against a waining, and blackened sky came to embody the atmosphere of the song. The subtle shifting of light or the motion of the camera within this space seek to respond to the directional pull of the song. Within this film, the sets, the puppet of Scott, as well as the guitar were created largely using repurposed materials. The action was capture via the technique of stop motion animation."
Pre-Order Even Days Dissolve Here.
Lead single and the albums opening track ‘Waves Crash Here’ is a a captivatingly atmospheric first taste to the forthcoming album with Scott William Urquhart’s gentle folk enveloped in waves of expansive synth and delicately placed spiralling electric guitar lines while McAll’s signature vocals float atop.
Set against a backdrop of Urquhart’s masterful acoustic guitar playing the songs that make up ‘‘Even Days Dissolve’ were inspired by ‘the grand old man of Scottish poetry’, Norman MacCaig (1910-1996), whose work is characterised by its gentle humour, precise observation and love for the natural world, which forms another key theme for the album. A nod of respect to McCaig, and the great man’s unmistakable words and inimitable voice feature on two of the tracks - single ‘Wildlife Cameraman (Summer Farm)’ which also features backing vocals is from McAll’s 13 year old daughter Islay, and the album’s closing track ‘Comes A Silence (Basking Shark)’ which has contributions from renowned young saxophonist Matt Carmichael, and Berlin musican Andy Aquarius on harp.
Discussing the album McAll explains: “The magic in music for me is all about collaboration. Finding people who inspire me to make better music, then working with them and creating something between us that’s better than what either of us could have made alone. It’s been an honour to work so closely with Scott William Urquhart on this album. He’s someone whom I’ve admired for some time - unquestionably up there with the best acoustic guitarists at the moment in Scotland, and such a beautiful writer of songs.
“Bringing two of these songs together with the voice of our beloved Norman MacCaig has been a real highlight of this project. His poetry was introduced to me by my high school teacher Mrs Tatarkowski, and it was the first prose I was able to read and understand when I was recovering from a traumatic head injury. So his work holds a deep space in my heart. I don’t think any poet or songwriter has matched his ability to capture the space and wonder of the natural beauty of Scotland.”
Live
13/3/23-19/3/23 SXSW Festival, Austin, Texas, USA
24/3/23 Reconnect Regal Theatre, Bathgate, UK
25/3/23 Wauchope Hall, Yetholm, UK
30/3/23 Astley Hall, Arisaig, UK
1/4/23 The Rockfield Centre, Oban, UK
15/4/23 ‘Even Days Dissolve’ Album Launch, Stirling TBC
