Shores was originally written for a live performance as part of Bridge Week at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Following a successful live performance I decided to undertake recording the piece as a full length album, taking advantage of the studio access at the RCS. The album was recorded over three sessions in late 2019, early 2020 and late 2020 as covid restrictions eased. 

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The process began with the quartet in December 2019. I was incredibly fortunate to have four stables of the young Scottish jazz agree to appear on the album, all of whom directly influenced the writing of shores through their own music or playing in some way.  They were Fergus McCreadie on piano, Matt Carmichael on tenor saxophone, Mark Hendry on bass and Dominykas Snarskis on drums. They recorded the entire album, start to finish, in one session in studio A in the RCS. I am so grateful for their commitment to the idea and the huge creative energy that they brought to every take. As a big fan of the Scottish jazz scene, it really was a dream come true to work with musicians like these. 

The strings were recorded in January 2020. Nine string players came together in studio A in RCS and laid down the whole album in one very intense recording session. I am so grateful for their focus and their trust during that session as it was a challenging new experience for many of us at the time. 

During my first week at the RCS I heard Cameron Nixon perform at an event and in that moment decided that he was the perfect soloist for this project. After the event I introduced myself and asked him if I could write some music for him to sing. I remember he agreed pretty straight away which I appreciate seeing as he had only just met me! 

We recorded a few movements of the piece in March 2020 but the final session were postponed as everything closed down due to the covid pandemic. It was not until October that we were finally able to return to the piece and finish it. We spent a lovely day with Gus Stirrat at his studio tracking the vocals. After so much delay and uncertainty it was the perfect way to round off the recording of the album. 

Having the opportunity to bing something like this to life was a dream come true for me and now looking back I realise how deeply formative it was. I feel truly blessed that I was able to make it with the help of so many incredibly talented musicians, some of which we close friends, some of which I came to know through the project. I then worked with Gus Stirrat to mix and master the album. Many of my favourite Scottish albums have come out of his Glasgow studio so this was a perfect way to end the shores project. Thank you also to Alex Waddell for filming part of the session which was later edited into a session film. 

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My thanks also go to the Sorley Maclean Trust for granting permission for use of Sorley's words and for contributing some funding for the mixing and mastering. A particular thank you as well to Ishbel Maclean, his daughter, for her encouragement and blessing. 

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