Heart​-​Shaped Scars

After the haunting lead single Long Exposure heralded the release of Heart-Shaped Scars- Allison’s first album in 12 years and her most personal to date – Dot Allison unveils another new track, ‘Can You Hear Nature Sing?’.

‘Can You Hear Nature Sing?’ originated from a poem written by Dot after her friend and poet Stuart McKenzie recommended some of his favorite poets. “On reading some of the work I wanted to use my immediate natural environment to write a poem” Dot explains. The result was ‘Emblems’ set in an autumn landscape. Later, when Dot and Zoe Bestel decided to write a duet for the new album Dot suggested ‘Emblems’ as “a starting point for the lyrics” As it transpired it proved fundamental in shaping ‘Can You Hear Nature Sing?’, providing much of the lyrical content.

Dot’s interests in music, literature, science and nature are integral to Heart-Shaped Scars overall aesthetic. It’s backdrop of exquisitely sparse and intoxicating dream-folk evokes Dot’s vision for “a pure kind of album that musically imbues a return to nature. I wanted it to be comforting like a familiar in-utero heartbeat.”

The album is produced by Allison alongside Fiona Cruickshank, with Hannah Peel adding string arrangements to four songs, courtesy of a quintet of Scottish folk musicians. Recorded at Castlesound Studios in Edinburgh – Dot’s hometown – the sessions include new collaborations with singer-songwriters Amy Bowman “The Haunted” and Zoe Bestel on the new single “Can You Hear Nature Sing?”.

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Field recordings of birdsong, rivers, and the ambiance of The Hebrides – where Dot has a cottage – also played their part. A location for gatherings amongst folk musician pals (Sarah Campbell and Amy Bowman included), “sharing ideas and passing instruments between us all, amongst friends and the island community,” says Allison. “It’s where I first sang ‘Long Exposure’ in public at a folk house concert. So, I can definitely hear some of the Hebrides in ‘Heart-Shaped Scars’.

The influence of folk-minded artists in her record collection, such as Karen Dalton, Gene Clark, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Nick Drake, and Brian Wilson are evident but most poignantly is the late Andy Weatherall. Weatherall produced ‘Morning Dove White’, the album that launched Dot’s career with the band One Dove and who “championed, signed and mentored me… I hear his influence throughout all of my albums.”

Since 1999’s Afterglow, Allison has striven to “keep the listener on a journey – and myself too.” That journey has taken her from Afterglow’s broad church (trip-hop, Tim Buckley-esque ballads, chilled psychedelia) to the sultry synth-pop of We Are Science (2002), the baroque Exaltation of Larks (2007) and the roots drama of Room 7½ (2009). She’s worked with an extraordinary roll call of talent – Kevin Shields, Hal David, Paul Weller, Pete Doherty and Darren Emerson, Massive Attack, Scott Walker, Slam, Philip Shepard, The Babyshambles & Pete Doherty, underlining the huge respect her peers hold her in.

On Heart-Shaped Scars Allison mines a deeply emotive seam. “Love, loss and a universal longing for union that seems to go with the human condition. To me, music is a sort of tonic or an antidote to a kind of longing, for a while at least.”

Credits

• released July 30, 2021
• Produced by Dot Allison and Fiona Cruickshank
  Engineered and Mixed by Fiona Cruickshank c/o Air Management
  Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC
  Recorded at Castlesound Studios, Pencaitland, Spitfire Audio, London, The Shed, Edinburgh
  Field recordings from The Hebrides by Dot Allison
  Additional Recording and engineering Stuart Hamilton & Homay Schmitz
  String Fixing – Su-A Lee
• Artwork and Design – Michelle Henning
• Portrait photography – (c) Essy Syed – All Rights Reserved
• Management – Maggie Rodford at Air-Edel Associates Ltd
  Licensed by Unboxed Music LLP
  SA Recordings

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Galu – New release from SA Recordings

SA Recordings are pleased to announce the fourth track from our Singles Series, ‘Galu‘ by Nyokabi Kariũki. The series focuses on championing new music from emerging composers via digital release and has featured composers such as Homay Schmitz, Shiva Feshareki, and Hamu.

Nyokabi is a Kenyan composer and performer based between New York, Maryland, and Nairobi. Her sonic imagination is ever-evolving, with compositions ranging from classical contemporary to choral music, film, experimental pop; and further includes explorations into sound art, electronics, and (East) African musical traditions. As a classically-trained pianist of 16 years, and as a vocalist who has been self-teaching instruments from the African continent (particularly the mbira), she often embraces the title of composer-performer. Her art seeks to bridge her many influences – from her African upbringing to her Western classical training — together into a mélange of accessible, evocative, and meaningful art. She is dedicated to using the composition as a tool to not only rediscover the stories of her culture, but also to highlight its significance, and contribute to the preservation of African and Black stories.

“Galu came about as I reflected on home while being away from home. During the pandemic, imagining peaceful places from my growing up in Kenya gave me, temporarily, appreciated moments of rest and stillness. The track features sound made with vocals, kalimba, drumset (Chris O’Leary), and field recordings that I took in December 2019, where I was wading slowly in the Indian Ocean at low tide on the Kenyan Coast — looking at crab pools and blurry figures in the horizon and reveling in the secrecy of mornings. With ‘Galu’, I wanted to preserve the freeing feeling of releasing your body into the quiet sway of the waves; and the freeing feeling of being able to finally breathe out, completely.” – Nyokbai Kariũki

Galu’ is part of an EP project called ‘peace places: kenyan memories’, where each track focuses on several places at home that gave me peace and similarly feature field recordings from each respective place.” – Nyokabi Kariũki

The full EP will be released on SA in the autumn.

Credits

Released July 14, 2021
Written, performed & produced by Nyokabi Kariũki (recorded in Potomac, Maryland/USA)
Drums by Chris O’Leary (recorded in Fair Lawn, NJ/USA)
Mixed by Madeleine Flieger in New York, NY/USA
Field recordings taken on Galu/Diani Beach, Kenya
Mastering Engineer: Enyang Urbiks