Das Jazzlabel Gearbox Records bringt Mitte September das gemeinsame Debüt des Gitarristen Kevin Daniel Cahill und des Drummers Graham Costello heraus. “Offworld” entstand dem Titel entsprechend an einem abgelegenen Ort namens Sanna, Ardnamurchan, in den schottischen Higlands und baut auf Erfahrungen in Improvisation und dem aleatorischen Gebrauch von Tape-Loops auf. Das Ergebnis ist ein hochemotionales Ambientalbum, bei dem sich (meist sanftes) Gitarrenpicking, unaufdringliche und gleichsam markante Take und subtile Soundarbeit die Waage halten. ein raurauschendes, streckenweise shoegaziges Klangbild prägt die einzelnen Tracks, bei denen sich immer mal mitreißende Melodien un die behutsame Langsamkeit schleichen.
“Offworld was recorded during August 2020 on location in Sanna, Ardnamurchan, located in the most westerly point of the British mainland, within the Scottish Highlands. Over the course of a week, the duo lived, rehearsed and recorded together in the remote area of Sanna and would produce what would become their debut album. During the course of the recording sessions the duo’s intent was to combine their different musical languages and backgrounds – they met whilst studying classical (Kevin) and jazz (Graham) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – through a shared appreciation of minimalism. The entire album was treated as a ‘live session’ in an attempt to capture the spontaneity and improvised nature of the session and the immersive Scottish landscape.
Sanna Bheag is a house which was built in 1927 by M.E.M Donaldson, an English author and ethnographer, who was one of the first and only artists to document the rich and ancient Scottish culture of this community before it was changed forever by the second world war. Like the Celtic Bard before her, she immortalised a culture and way of life through her chosen mediums of writing and photography. Sanna is an honest reflection of the natural progression of music and art; it is constantly adapting and improvising with the consistent change in economical and cultural shifts as well as being a significant landmark of Scottish culture. These attributes directly link to the duo’s artistic intent, proving Sanna to be the perfect location to chronicle their own contemporary bardic and ethnographic interpretation of modern day Scotland and its cultural and artistic evolution.” (Gearbox)