There’s been a bit of snow cover over the weekend ’round these parts, and it’s always nice to find the perfect companion track for some quality hibernation. The kind of track that you can crank the fire up and sit back with a nice dram whilst basking in its sheer loveliness; the piano phrase rolling around and around with the cello and vocals before the beautifully understated percussion bursts into a suitably encompassing swell complete with hand claps.
By all accounts, a Victorian harmonium was the driving force for these four long-time conspirators to come together as Modern Studies. Housed in a rural Perthshire studio named Pumpkinfield this harmonium became the starting point for snippets of ideas, lines of songs and gradually these became what will be a full album release Swell to Great later in the year. The four are Emily Scott: Singer-songwriter and classical bassist, Rob St John: Wrangler of experimental landscape sounds, Pete Harvey: Proprietor of Pumpkinfield, cellist and arranger of repute and Joe Smillie: Drummer and venue manager, The Glad Cafe, Glasgow.
Photo Credit – Jannica Honey
