📷 by Archie MacFarlane

Thanks very much to the Traditional Music Forum for this invite to explain a little about my new album release, Second Sight. It’s a collection of 9 original tunes, recorded with guitarist Graeme Stephen and bassist Elie Afif over a day in May this year.

Graeme is probably the musician I’ve worked with most over many years, while Elie I met for the first time making this music. I think overall the music sounds a little freer, more spontaneous, than other recordings I’ve made, so I’m pleased for that.

Second Sight is the third of three trio albums I’ve made over the past year and a half thanks to Creative’s Scotland’s support. Each album has the low D whistle playing a leading role, stretching my playing (and writing) while retaining a musical ethos I can describe as authentic. Each album was recorded in just a day, which in itself helps create some sense of unity across the collection.

Disclaimer – a paragraph of musician talk follows. I should perhaps mention that in 2009 I asked Colin Goldie, a whistle maker based in Germany, to drill an extra tone hole to be covered by the lower hand thumb, on the back on my 4 low whistles. This gives a minor third to the natural scale, i.e. an F natural on a D whistle – I found it improves the G#/Ab on the second octave too. There are fingered positions for all notes of the chromatic scale except the minor second (Eb on a D whistle) – but that turns out to be not a big deal – you don’t have to move much to half-open the lowest tone-hole and you just get used to the position, like if there was a key there to slide on to. I’ve found using cross-fingering instead of half-holing makes the playing of faster passages much more achievable. There may be one or two players interested in all this but I’m thinking as I write, would my younger self have listened?! Perhaps not I’ll have to admit. I’ve come to realise that, perhaps obviously, you’ve got to really want to make the sounds to put the required work in. For many years I was happy enough in my existing furrow. It took a relatively long while to find beauty in what had previously only sounded complicated…the journey continues!

Trio recording 9 May 2024 – photo by Fraser Fifield

The motivation behind the project, I could say, comes out of years of having to (genuinely wanting to came later) find ways to successfully play low whistle in musical situations you might say it has no business being in! If it weren’t for a knowledge of the saxophone, I probably wouldn’t have got far trying to play more chromatic music on low whistle. Over time the similarity between the two instruments, whistle/sax, became apparent  – one has a lot of extra metal work around the sides and closes/opens the tone holes with pads/keys while the other has just six or seven open tone holes which you cover with your fingers, both are metal tubes essentially. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I got to the point where I thought it’d be nice to document some low whistle playing in contrasting settings… drums/electric piano, violin/harp and guitar/bass setting the respective scenes. And despite all the technical talk I’ve just put you through, my guiding principle is always, I can reassure, does it sound/feel good?

Encore for One Great Circle at St Cecilia’s Hall – photo by Thalia Blacking

The second album of this series of trios, One Great Circle, was released in March this year. Chris Stout and Catriona McKay, the acclaimed fiddle/harp duo, joined me. We, Chris, Catriona and I, were all at music college together toward the end of the last century, going on to make a couple of quintet albums under Chris’s leadership in the early 000s… meaning I could maybe lean on them a little to get involved! The resulting music is, if I had to apply a label, a kind chamber-folk – moving harmonically but has a recognisable Scottish folk/trad sound throughout, partly through the instrumentation and our approach to playing. We have performances scheduled for this autumn in NE Scotland and NE England – come and see us! The theme and titles come via a new found appreciation of a true Scottish legend, the late Stanley Robertson. I would recommend searching out his storytelling on Tobar an Dualchais, especially if like me, you’ve a fondness for the Doric culture of North East Scotland.

Fraser Fifield SECRET PATH trio – photo by Archie MacFarlane

Continuing with this anti-chronological approach, the first of this series is ‘Secret Path’, released in June 2023. Paul Harrison and Tom Bancroft joined me, playing Wurlitzer piano and drums respectively. We’ve gone on to play some lovely gigs as the Secret Path Trio, Edinburgh Jazz Festival was our most recent. Promoters, by the way, should definitely get in touch if interested in these new trios.

It’s been a most prolific 18 months or so and I’ve learned a good deal in the process. I’ll close by taking this opportunity to sincerely thank again all who have contributed,

Musicians: Paul Harrison, Tom Bancroft, Catriona McKay, Chris Stout, Elie Afif and Graeme Stephen.

Recording Mixing and Mastering: Kevin Burleigh, Keir Long, Daniel Denholm, Mattie Foulds and Chris Waite.

Design: Archie MacFarlane

Fraser Fifield with Paul Harrison & Tom Bancroft – SECRET PATH
Released 30 July 2023

Fraser Fifield with Chris Stout & Catriona McKay – ONE GREAT CIRCLE
Released 8 March 2024

Fraser Fifield with Graeme Stephen & Elie Afif – SECOND SIGHT
Released 2 Aug 2024

www.fraserfifield.com
www.fraserfifield.bandcamp.com