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‘Euphoria’ – first reactions

December 11, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | No comments

I posted the following today on the Anam Danu website – for those who like to keep up with such things:

Photo by Andy Dawson Reid
Since ‘Euphoria’ hit the digital download and streaming sites a great deal has been going on. The album received its first – and very positive – review on the well respected Music Review World blog. You can find the whole review here – but here are some tasters:

“Every once in a while, in the world of music, you will come across an act that defies all of your current assumptions and thoughts about the flow of today’s music. They will blow you away, for good or for worse, in their own interpretation of what makes art ‘art’ itself. In today’s review, the act that’ll shatter your own preconceived notions shall grace you with a tapestry of music that I frankly have not heard synthesized in this manner before.”

“The whole album is quite strange to comprehend, because it captures the zeitgeist of a lost art scene and musical sensibility very well in this day and age without compromising any ounce of authenticity.”

“It is also very warm and polished in its execution, making me wonder if this was the missing soundtrack to a revivalist 80s/90s heartfelt movie.”

“The two vocalists’ voices also bear a very interesting contrast, as they possess very different vocal ranges and tone too. It’s an interesting mix of voices, that venture from determined to even slight Irish inflections at times.”

“Score/Excellent: Anam Danu returns with their newest release, titled ‘Euphoria’- an album sure to provide you with Euphoria. It is filled to the brim with serenity and character all in one, within a dynamic musical soundscape that stays true to its thematic origins and intent.

In further interesting developments tracks from the album have received a number of plays on Campus Radio stations across Canada and even a couple in the US. Some of these plays came about as a result of Anam Danu having signed up to Earshot.Distro – the digital distribution service set up specifically to help Canadian stations to source new Canadian music. Other plays, however, came about as a result of the radio presenters’ admirable diligence in seeking new material.  I asked Johnathan Whitehorn at Western Radio how they came to play ‘Plant a Seed (and Watch it Grow)’ and he told me:

“I go through new Canadian releases on Bandcamp every 3 days. Around 300-600 releases. A few stick out. Like yours.”

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Euphoria release

November 5, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

This news item appeared recently on the Anam Danu website:

Siobhan and Andy of Anam Danu have written, recorded, and self-released three original albums over the past five years.  Back in 2023, they decided to focus on growing their creative partnership.  They enjoy being in the studio, but like many musicians, they know that performing live is the true test of their music.

They realized that the music they create as a duo often needs more musicians to perform it live.  Over the last year and a half, they searched for other artists who could help bring their ambitious work to life.  In late 2023, they met Adrienne Dyer, whose beautiful soprano voice added a powerful element to their music.  Together they started to create fresh tracks for a new album.  

“Euphoria” explores what it means to be a mature adult in today’ s challenging times.  It includes songs about storytelling and creativity, the value of long-term friendships, teaching and learning, the search for our roots, and the important choices we make as we grow older.

Most importantly, it highlights the need for joy.

Siobhan, Adrienne and Andy are particularly grateful to Mairéad for her gorgeous and striking cover art, which encapsulates the essence of the album perfectly.

“Euphoria” will be available for streaming and download from November 22nd. 

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The long haul

October 7, 2024 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

I posted this update on progress towards the release of the new Anam Danu album – ‘Euphoria‘ – on the Anam Danu website. For completeness I thought I would reproduce it here:

 

Progress continues toward the release of the new Anam Danu album – ‘Euphoria’.

The ten chosen tracks have been polished and given final mixes and the whole sent off to our mastering studio of choice – CPS Mastering in Vancouver. Brock McFarlane (who has mastered all of the Anam Danu albums thus far) has now sent us the first mastered copies and we are in the process of listening intensely in as many environments as we can – preparatory to signing off the album and sending it to our distributors and CD manufacturer.

We also now have the cover art for the release. Those who have followed Anam Danu’s exploits will know that we like to commission local artists to create the cover for each release. In this case the wonderful artwork that can be seen on this page is by Alberta artist – Mairéad – who has, in our view, captured the intent of the album perfectly.

Of Mairéad Siobhan writes:

“Mairéad is a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Alberta, Canada.  She expresses her art in paint and textiles.  As a visual artist, she creates vibrant multi-media paintings and collage.  Her love of detail, color and texture is evident in her one-of-a-kind unisex handbags, backpacks and wallets.  She is an expert knitter whose cable-knit outerwear is beautiful and expertly made.   Mairéad creates custom dog sweaters and jackets that are both stylish and playful.  She is passionate about interior design and customizes existing pieces through upholstery, refinishing and fabric furnishings”.

 

Not long to wait now! I will post the release dates for ‘Euphoria’ just as soon as they have been confirmed.

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One and one and one is three

December 27, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“He roller-coaster, he got early warnin’
He got muddy water, he one mojo filter
He say, “One and one and one is three”
Got to be good-lookin’, ’cause he’s so hard to see”

John Lennon – ‘Come together’

It is – as I have repeated many times before – my habit at around the turn of the year to look back and ponder on the twelve months that have recently ended, before turning my thoughts toward the nascent year just arriving, there to surmise what might be expected in each of the most important areas of our lives. At around this time last year my wits were full of the then recently taken (and, as it proved, fateful!) decision to mount a trip-of-a-lifetime safari to Botswana. My meanderings concluded thus:

“Such is the mental magnitude of the undertaking that we don’t have much space left in our imaginations at this juncture to conjure up other aims and ambitions for the year – with the exception of a musical ambition on my part. The Chanteuse and I have decreed that this year we should prepare ourselves to perform live. Even should we not manage so to do before the year’s end – we will be ready and raring to go immediately thereafter. More on this also – later in the year”.

So – how did we get on?

Well – we haven’t played live… yet!

These things are complex and take time. Our music is emotional and cinematic and not easily transcribed to a single acoustic guitar and a washboard (neither of which either of us plays). The whole business clearly required careful consideration and not a little experimentation.

What we did first was to release a couple of singles – ‘Perfect‘ and ‘The Journey Home‘ – with the idea of keeping our music in the public eye. Through these releases we achieved a number of firsts:

  • We got our first playlistings
  • We had our first reviews
  • We had the first articles written about us in online blogs
  • We appeared on several compilation releases courtesy of the wonderful Aldora Britain Records
  • We made our first video to accompany one of our recordings

We also had enjoyed another first… but more of that later.

The trouble with playing complex music live is that there are basically two different ways of achieving it: one can work with a lot of technology – or with a whole bunch of people (musicians!).

Finding the right musicians is difficult. One is asking folk to voluntarily give up a lot of their time and expertise to do something for which the rewards could be precious but nebulous. When one is young finding musicians is easy and in my chequered past I have done so many times. Young people have energy and ideas and want to get involved. They don’t much care about being rewarded and they tend to be only partly formed – which makes it easier for them to adapt and to meld themselves to their chosen project.

Older people tend to be more set in their ways – more cynical – more particular about what they want to do and what they won’t do – and also about whether or not they expect to get paid for it.

In short – putting a band together when you are young happens almost without effort. When one is older – it don’t!…

…hence the interest in the technology. Using all this wonderful gear is very much the thing of now – but it does have down-sides. It is expensive and complex to do well – and it is difficult to get a truly human result unless one is very good at it. We spent a chunk of the year playing around with various setups trying to see if we could get things to work as a duo, but the truth is that our music properly requires real people, playing together.

So – our other first… the first time we played with another musician – the fiddle player who provided a session for one of our singles (thank you)…

…which led ultimately to this year’s really big news: we now have a new member! – who shall, for the purposes of this blog, be awarded the sobriquet – The Jongleur.

This exciting development brings us a most important second voice – the which will be essential for playing live and one which miraculously blends beautifully with The Chanteuse.

Welcome! Welcome!!

Of course, this won’t just affect playing live. The other looking-forward news item is that we are writing furiously and have already compiled more than half the material needed for a new album – the which we anticipate appearing in public sometime around the middle of the year.

So – much excitement – much to look forward to.

Find us here:

 

 

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Matters musical – 2

May 12, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Following on from my ‘Matters Musical – 1‘ posting a couple of weeks back… herewith the second and concluding part.

I mentioned in the aforesaid posting that Anam Danu had been featured on no less than three compilations of independent music made available through Tom Hilton’s ‘Aldora Britain Records‘ – in addition to being featured in an article in the associated e-Zine. The Chanteuse and I were most flattered by the attention and grateful for the coverage.

We were further offered a single release on the label during April. The advantage of this would be, of course, that our name and our music would be pushed in its own right and thus be all the more visible. We happily agreed to this proposal and offered our January single – ‘Perfect‘ – paired with a re-issue of a song from our first collection (‘Winds of Change‘) entitled ‘The Journey Home‘.

Having been written and recorded back in 2019, ‘The Journey Home‘ was one of our earlier experiments in working together. As one would expect, we have made a great deal of progress since then – both technically and artistically – so we decided that we should re-work the track, lengthening it and updating sounds and instrumentation. The original recording featured a fiddle part that I had played on a halfway decent sampled instrument, but – since part of our expansion plans for this year include starting to work with other musicians – we thought that this would be a good opportunity to experiment. We were introduced by a friend to Victoria violinist, Kate Rhodes, who agreed to play the session for us and thus became the first person other than The Chanteuse and I to appear on an Anam Danu recording.

The two tracks were duly released last month and can be found on Bandcamp here. We were most excited subsequently to find that the release had entered the Aldora Britain Independent Top 20 – the which records the tracks on the ABR Bandcamp site that receive the most plays. At the time of writing we are at number 13 on that playlist.

We will also be releasing ‘The Journey Home‘ under our own auspices to all the usual streaming and download sites during June. More on that come the time.

The Chanteuse and I have also been busy working our how we can play all of this music that we have been creating for a live audience. As mentioned above, this will inevitable entail finding other like-minded individuals who are keen to play with us. Reworking the material for live performance also requires a considerable amount of work – but we are making good progress.

Thank you for listening!

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Matters musical – 1

April 30, 2023 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

I am moved – every once in a while – to furnish the gentle readers of these digital digressions with an update on the progress that The Chanteuse and I are making on our musical odyssey. I hope that this is not too wearisome for those that have little interest in such matters.

Back at the end of January I posted herein a missive announcing the release of a new Anam Danu single – going by the soubriquet of ‘Perfect‘. The Chanteuse and I have been busy promoting this recording; with some small degree of success. The track was listed in a good number of playlists, reviewed by various digital media pundits and the release engendered the publication of several feature articles in online fanzines and the like. Should you wish to know more you can find details in the news section on our website.

Back in November we had a track from last summer’s album release – ‘Soul Making‘ – included on a compilation of independent music by a UK based e-Zine and record label – Aldora Britain Records. Tom Hilton – the Scot whose brainchild ABR is – writes thus:

“Aldora Britain Records is an independent music e-zine and record label. The e-zine produces interviews with unsigned and underground artists and reviews their music. The label produces compilations of these artists. The vision of AB Records is to create a go-to place for music lovers all over the world to discover great new stuff, an online platform for independent music. It’s much needed!”

Tom and ABR have been most generous to us, having now featured us on three different compilations – the most recent being titled ‘Street Corner Jive‘. ABR also produce an international independent music e-Zine at regular intervals and Anam Danu was honoured to be the subject of of a feature back in March of this year. Should you wish to discover more about us you can find the article here:

Now, in the interests of not overwhelming merely perfunctory perusers of this idiosyncratic anthology with a bombardment of minutiae – and finding that I have considerably more to say than first I anticipated…

…I am going to split this post into two installments.

Coming soon… part two!

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The release

August 24, 2022 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

There are really three parts to the creative process. First there is inspiration, then there is the execution, and finally there is the release.

Eddie Van Halen

It takes, it would seem, somewhere around a year and a half to create and to release what I will persist in calling an album. That, at least, is our experience in Anam Danu.

The Chanteuse and I started working on our third album – ‘Soul Making‘ (to be released this Friday, August 26th) – shortly after finishing our last offering – ‘ Winter Blue and Evergreen‘.

As I have observed before in these jottings, it seems that I am able to write and record basic tracks at the rate of about one a month – and in the case of ‘Soul Making’ I wrote half as many songs again as appear on the finished product.

Once the basic tracks are complete The Chanteuse gets to work on the vocal tracks, which can take some time to record depending on the complexity of the arrangements. We then mix the tracks and carry out any final snagging before all is ready to be sent for mastering.

In this instance the release date of the finished product would undoubtedly have been earlier had The girl and I not gone on our trip to the UK and Europe in July. We decided to wait for the end of August for the release itself so that there would be enough time on our return to mount a campaign to try to draw attention to the release in advance of the event.

Anyway – the time is finally upon us. As of Friday ‘Soul Making‘ will be available on the usual streaming and download services (including Spotify, Amazon Music, Youtube, Apple Music, iTunes and Bandcamp). The best way to locate these links is to browse to the music section of the Anam Danu website.

We hope that you enjoy our music. If you do so, please recommend it to others.

We thank you!

 

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Flying the nest

December 21, 2020 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Artwork by Martin SpringettSince my last update on the subject of the eagerly awaited new Anam Danu album – “Winter Blue and Evergreen” – much has occurred.

The tracks have passed through the mastering process described in my last update and have been assembled into an album. Final tweaks were made and all is now as good as we can get it.

We now have a splendid and beautiful cover for the CD – the which you can see at the top of this post. This lovely piece of work was created specially for us and I will pass on the full story of how it came to be in a subsequent post.

All of this goodness has been bundled up in the approved fashion and shipped off to our Digital Music Distributor of choice. All we can do now is to sit back and wait, because the process normally takes around three to four weeks. With Christmas looming it may even take a little longer – but as you all know: “All good things…”

Once all has been through the approval mill the album will become available through all the usual digital channels.

Finally – Anam Danu now has its own website, which can be found at:

Anamdanu.com

We are pretty pleased with the way that the website has turned out, but is is conspicuously lacking in any of the usual atmospheric band shots. The reasons for that are sadly obvious; in times of pandemic trying to organise a photo shoot runs that gamut from difficult to downright foolhardy.

The website will be kept up to date with all manner of musical goings-on as things progress. Needless to say one of the first things to look for there will be the firm release dates – once we know them – as well as details as to where to find the album.

The music on this album was very much born out of this most unfortunate year. Our hope is that in this manner (as of course in many others) something good will come from it.

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