Release Date: UK/Europe: February 2, 2015; North America: August 18, 2015 (Cat. No: WBG119)
Walking
Into White is the fourth solo album from Sarah McQuaid. To record it,
she travelled from her adopted home in Cornwall, England, to the small
town of Cornwall, New York, USA, in order to work with co-producers
Jeremy Backofen (Frightened Rabbit, Felice Brothers) and Sarah’s
cousin Adam Pierce (Mice Parade, Tom Brosseau, Múm).
Into White is the fourth solo album from Sarah McQuaid. To record it,
she travelled from her adopted home in Cornwall, England, to the small
town of Cornwall, New York, USA, in order to work with co-producers
Jeremy Backofen (Frightened Rabbit, Felice Brothers) and Sarah’s
cousin Adam Pierce (Mice Parade, Tom Brosseau, Múm).
Coming
from outside the folk world and having never worked with Sarah before,
Adam and Jeremy found and nurtured the raw edge and intensity that’s
always been present in her live performances, while their occasionally
unorthodox recording methods (a mini-cassette recorder mounted on a
microphone stand, for example) bring out a striking intimacy and
immediacy in both her vocals and her guitar sound. Walking Into White is
by far the most personal and emotional album Sarah has made to date.
from outside the folk world and having never worked with Sarah before,
Adam and Jeremy found and nurtured the raw edge and intensity that’s
always been present in her live performances, while their occasionally
unorthodox recording methods (a mini-cassette recorder mounted on a
microphone stand, for example) bring out a striking intimacy and
immediacy in both her vocals and her guitar sound. Walking Into White is
by far the most personal and emotional album Sarah has made to date.
Three
of the songs take their inspiration from Arthur Ransome’s classic
Swallows and Amazons series of children’s books. The title track uses
the arresting image of two children lost in a moorland fog as an
allegory for the sensation of stumbling blindly through life; in “The
Tide”, a mud-bound sailboat becomes a portrait of a marriage, while
“Where The Wind Decides To Blow” performs a similar transfiguration on a
homemade sailing sled sent hurtling across a frozen lake by an
unexpected blizzard.
of the songs take their inspiration from Arthur Ransome’s classic
Swallows and Amazons series of children’s books. The title track uses
the arresting image of two children lost in a moorland fog as an
allegory for the sensation of stumbling blindly through life; in “The
Tide”, a mud-bound sailboat becomes a portrait of a marriage, while
“Where The Wind Decides To Blow” performs a similar transfiguration on a
homemade sailing sled sent hurtling across a frozen lake by an
unexpected blizzard.
In
“Yellowstone”, a young boy’s obsession with the spectre of volcanic
apocalypse sparks a rumination on the buried terrors that haunt us all:
“I know I’m not the only one / To fear the ground I tread upon /
Volcano’s of all kinds / Torment our minds,” Sarah sings almost
meditatively over a samba rhythm delicately embellished by Adam’s cajón
and Dan Lippel’s classical guitar.
“Yellowstone”, a young boy’s obsession with the spectre of volcanic
apocalypse sparks a rumination on the buried terrors that haunt us all:
“I know I’m not the only one / To fear the ground I tread upon /
Volcano’s of all kinds / Torment our minds,” Sarah sings almost
meditatively over a samba rhythm delicately embellished by Adam’s cajón
and Dan Lippel’s classical guitar.
“Jackdaws
Rising” takes the form of a three-part round, with Sarah’s lyrics and
vocal melodies overlapping in counterpoint to a guitar instrumental
composed by her friends Pete Coleman and Clare Hines. The other two
parts are sung by Adele Schulz (who also contributes beautiful harmonies
on “The Tide”) and Sarah’s manager and touring sound engineer, Martin
Stansbury. Sarah, Martin, Adam and Jeremy all supply the stomps and
handclaps that punctuate this 4/4 song in 5/4 time – a brain-tickling
polyrhythm that was one of many ideas introduced by Adam.
Rising” takes the form of a three-part round, with Sarah’s lyrics and
vocal melodies overlapping in counterpoint to a guitar instrumental
composed by her friends Pete Coleman and Clare Hines. The other two
parts are sung by Adele Schulz (who also contributes beautiful harmonies
on “The Tide”) and Sarah’s manager and touring sound engineer, Martin
Stansbury. Sarah, Martin, Adam and Jeremy all supply the stomps and
handclaps that punctuate this 4/4 song in 5/4 time – a brain-tickling
polyrhythm that was one of many ideas introduced by Adam.
Other
guest musicians include Gareth Flowers, whose soaring trumpet brings
the upbeat single “The Silver Lining” to a stirring climax (he also
duets with Sarah on the title song), cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman (“Where
The Wind Decides To Blow” and Sarah’s evocative guitar instrumental “I
Am Grateful For What I Have”), and pianist Rob King (“The Tide”).
Jeremy plays bass on “The Silver Lining”, and Adam pitches in on a
plethora of instruments. On the album opener “Low Winter Sun”, he uses
an electric guitar and an early 1980s synthesizer to create a wash of
sound that acts as foil and underpinning for Sarah’s acoustic guitar
rendition of a church bell peal; elsewhere, he plays everything from the
aforementioned cajón to drums, tambourine, bass, vibraphones and air
organ (this last item is also played by Martin to fine effect on Sarah’s
setting of the early 20th century hymn “Canticle Of The Sun/All
Creatures Of Our God And King”).
guest musicians include Gareth Flowers, whose soaring trumpet brings
the upbeat single “The Silver Lining” to a stirring climax (he also
duets with Sarah on the title song), cellist Kivie Cahn-Lipman (“Where
The Wind Decides To Blow” and Sarah’s evocative guitar instrumental “I
Am Grateful For What I Have”), and pianist Rob King (“The Tide”).
Jeremy plays bass on “The Silver Lining”, and Adam pitches in on a
plethora of instruments. On the album opener “Low Winter Sun”, he uses
an electric guitar and an early 1980s synthesizer to create a wash of
sound that acts as foil and underpinning for Sarah’s acoustic guitar
rendition of a church bell peal; elsewhere, he plays everything from the
aforementioned cajón to drums, tambourine, bass, vibraphones and air
organ (this last item is also played by Martin to fine effect on Sarah’s
setting of the early 20th century hymn “Canticle Of The Sun/All
Creatures Of Our God And King”).
Rounding
out the album are “Leave It For Another Day”, co-written by Sarah with
Gerry O’Beirne, who produced all three of her previous solo recordings;
“Sweetness And Pain”, an a cappella song split into three parts that
serve as brief interludes between the other tracks; and a cover of Ewan
MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”.
out the album are “Leave It For Another Day”, co-written by Sarah with
Gerry O’Beirne, who produced all three of her previous solo recordings;
“Sweetness And Pain”, an a cappella song split into three parts that
serve as brief interludes between the other tracks; and a cover of Ewan
MacColl’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”.
Catalogue
Walking Into White Feb 2015.
The Plum Tree & The Rose (New Album)
I Won’t Go Home ‘Til Morning
When Two Lovers Meet
Crow Coyote Buffalo (As the duo Mama – Zoë Pollock & Sarah McQuaid)