Searching Erskine - Ambient Album + Artbook + Essay + Exhibition
“This gorgeous sonic tribute to the abandoned island of Vallay, where the artist’s grandmother once lived, is filled with folk memory and longing.”
— Jude Rogers / The Guardian, 'Folk Album of the Month'
'Searching Erskine' is a 12-track album that blurs the boundaries between ambient, modern-folk and contemporary classical, released with an accompanying artbook that responds to the uninhabited island of Vallay, which lies approximately two miles off the northwest coast of North Uist. On foot, it can only be accessed at low tide across vast tidal sands. Initially released via Blackford Hill Audio as a 64-page book with digital download, the label will be producing a special edition on 12” vinyl in 2024. 'Searching Erskine' is the result of the channelling of voices, original music, oral histories, spectral sounds, and field recordings from the island. This is a project about ruins, land, memory, and the intersections in between.
In 1905, antiquarian, industrialist, and pioneering archaeologist Erskine Beveridge built a Georgian mansion on Vallay in order to excavate prehistoric duns and finish his book North Uist. The mansion gradually fell into disrepair after Erskine’s son, George Beveridge, drowned in 1944 while crossing the tidal strand, leaving no heir nor work for the small population of crofters, groundsmen, and housekeepers who departed the island shortly after. Arun’s grandmother (gaga), Katie MacNaughton, was one of the last islanders to leave, and these song tapestries locate his family story in a palimpsest of cultural, natural, and historical layers that comprise the now uninhabited island. The 64-page book features visual artwork from artists Emile Kees, Rosalind Blake and Meg Rodger. These sit alongside Arun’s introductory essay, poems and extensive notes exploring the making of the album, which features contributions from musicians including Rachel Sermanni (guitar and vocals), Alastair Smith (synths, organs, tape loops and sonifications) and Alice Allen (cello).
An exhibition of the artworks previously featured at the Taigh Chearsabhagh Arts Centre in Lochmaddy, North Uist.
