In early 2020, good fortune carried poet Liz Lochhead and musician/producer, Andrew Wasylyk through the sleet and hailstones of a wintry Hebridean storm over the sea to the Isle of Mull. Absconded, but now trapped by ferry cancellations, the two artists, along with producer Gordon Maclean, battened down the hatches at An Tobar, Tobermory, to embark on what all three wondered: could this possibly be our new project...?
‘Still Life, Sweetheart’ marks their second collaboration with this collection of five voice and piano pieces. Lochhead’s hushed voice, delivering sometimes simple and songlike good wishes, sometimes acute observations on love, life, longevity and - always - longing, lands beautifully among Wasylyk’s undulating melodies that exist in a space between the minimalist nocturnes of Erik Satie and the weightless progressions of Joanna Brouk.
Liz Lochhead and Andrew Wasylyk’s unique journey took them somewhere new and strange, to a place that felt as hopeful as it was vulnerable, and in the end is as hypnotic as it is intimate. ‘Still Life, Sweetheart’ is a rare double-portrait where spoken-word, modern-classical, and maybe-jazz meet in a form that’s less lofty or remote than perhaps suggested by any of these genre-categories.
Here all is open, warm, infinitely accessible.
"It’s a good week to argue that poetry is the new rock’n’roll. Former Scots Makar Liz Lochhead and composer Andrew Wasylyk have resumed a collaboration first minted on Mull with Wasylyk’s band The Hazey Janes and saxophonist Steve Kettley. 'Still Life, Sweetheart' emerged during a few pre-Covid days on the island when the pair were stranded because of ferry cancellations, and comprises Lochhead’s soft lullaby delivery set against the barest of piano backing.
'Persimmons' attests to the power of an evocative memory, the account of an artist diligently sketching complemented by the gentle brushstrokes of piano. The moving 'Coming to Poetry' is Lochhead’s ode to Keats and the pivotal role of poetry as she grew up in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis." The Scotsman
credits
released August 7, 2020
Record and mixed by Gordon Maclean at An Tobar, Isle of Mull.
Our releases encompass electronica, field recordings, modern classical, spoken word and jazz - all connected to or inspired by a sense of place, created in a variety of audio and print formats.
supported by 6 fans who also own “Still Life, Sweetheart”
One of the coolest records I've heard in a while. Could easily be a film score (which, I suppose it technically is- it's incidental music for his hometown). Check it out! Aaron Harker
Poet Douglas Kearney and composer/producer/drummer Val Jeanty link up for a a compelling LP that feels like the written word come to life. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2021