📷 by Adam Bulley

I’ve been playing with the idea of guitar with string quartet since I was at university – I loved the potential. The idea, on paper, was relatively simple – take compositions of mine for solo guitar and weave the strings around them – getting the guitar to sit amongst the ensemble. The execution, however, was anything but simple. I could get the dots on the page, it sounded good, but it lacked the magic of someone who really knew how to get the most out of the strings, to find the magic moments and to get the instruments to really soar.

Fast forward a few years and I happened upon that very person in Ullapool in the Highlands, at the annual guitar festival up there. Innes Watson – the man I had been looking for to bring that magic that I’d been missing! I shared my thoughts and ideas with him, and we agreed after a few pints that it was worth exploring. And explore it we did!

Not only that, but Innes got together a super-group of Scotland’s finest to bring the parts to life. Violin I – Seonaid Aitken, Violin II – Innes himself, Viola – Patsy Reid and Cello – Alice Allen. What a bunch – all exceptional and an absolute dream come true to work with them. The string quartet was named Innotet, after its founder.

We set about working on our first single in 2017 – a tune steeped in my own Scottish heritage called Emma. I can still remember my feeling of elation, waiting for the flight home and listening to a rough mix. Innes had spun magic, Seonaid, Patsy and Alice had brought it all to life. An album had to be the next step.

So, in 2019 we set about recording our debut album, Volume One, where we took 10 of my solo guitar compositions, Innes did his magical thing with the string arrangements, we collaborated, rehearsed and recorded at GloWorm Studios in Glasgow. It was the most enjoyable recording session I’d been a part of for years – hearing everything come to life so beautifully.

But I’d called the debut album Volume One for a reason. You can’t just release a Volume One and not follow it up – that would be silly. I knew we had more to give, and after all the proof of our recordings and performances previous, I knew it could only get better. So, five years later I had a list of 12 new pieces ready for the Innotet magic. We knew the drill, and we knew what we wanted to achieve and how to get even better off the back of the first album.

After months of collaborating on the arrangements, we headed back to GloWorm in December last year to record Volume Two. Somehow, it was even more enjoyable than the first time around. There was a confidence about it all now, as we knew the process, and had such a clear idea of our intentions. Seonaid, Innes, Patsy and Alice played their hearts out, and the energy from them fed back to me in the guitar booth. I’ll remember our time together for the rest of my life, that’s for sure.

And now I find myself writing this, on the cusp of the new album’s release on 30th August 2024, feeling immensely grateful to have had the opportunity to make my musical dreams a reality with some of the finest musicians and people around. It’s a true celebration of what can happen when we get together to collaborate.

I do hope you enjoy listening to the album as much as we enjoyed making it!