The Golden Goose

Adrianna and I released a new single yesterday called The Golden Goose! It's a set of two original tunes, the first by me and the second by Adrianna. Graeme Campbell recorded, mixed, and mastered it, and Matt Horseman took our photo. We love playing these tunes together. Check it out on bandcamp:

Mirror Era

The first single from Many Worlds' debut album, Mirror Era, came out today! The whole album comes out on March 6, and is now available for pre-order on bandcamp. I love this band and am very proud of what we've made together - very excited for the recording to be released!

Talismanic Episode Assembly

Last week, Michael Cloud Duguay hosted his latest recording project at Radstorm on Gottigen St, where he recorded nine musicians in one-on-one improvised sessions. At the end of the week we had a performance all together. I was very grateful to be included in this project amongst so many heavy hitters!

photo by Mark Legate

Brighter & Brighter

My dear friend Laura just released her debut recording, a Christmas album called "Brighter & Brighter", and I was very honoured to be part of the project. Take a listen on bandcamp below!

Recording sessions for Many Worlds and Camerata Singers

This week I spent some time in the studio for some exciting new album projects from Many Worlds and the Halifax Camerata Singers! Stay tuned.

Spring Buds Album Release

On May 16, Dane George released his beautiful album Spring Buds, a collection of original compositions for mandolin! Check it out on bandcamp!

It was a treat to play on a few of these tracks and to be part of the afternoon launch concert.

Monophilia

Tom Richard's "Monophilia" was released yesterday! 

Three records in breathtaking mono, to be played individually or simultaneously. Songs about love and loss in a non-binary world.

You can listen to the record and mix the three layers yourself here: insoundmusic.com/monophilia

Or, check it out on bandcamp below.

I play on Layer 3 with Doug Tielli and Georgia Hathaway.

Doomsday Fantasias

On Dec 6, New Hermitage released a new record, Doomsday Fantasias. It was released on Watch That Ends the Night Records and features New Hermitage in quartet formation - Andrew MacKelvie, India Gailey, Ross Burns, and myself - with guest appearances by Jeff Reilly. Here are a few words about the album from Andrew:

We recorded this album in 2022 in a house by the sea on the south shore of Nova Scotia. We moved in for the week with our instruments, recording equipment, and make-shift baffles. And what it became is called Doomsday Fantasias.

We recorded Unearthed in 2017. We recorded Doomsday Fantasias five years later. In that time we grew as people and artists. We defined our container, we deepened our lore; we built a repertoire and collective language for improvisation. We toured and we joked and we sang songs that we knew and that we made up.

Doomsday Fantasias was supposed to be something else. But, we let the piece become what it was meant to be. The compositions were always going to happen that way. Not through divine fate, but humble adherence to a practice. It’s a record of spontaneous compositions.

I hope you enjoy it. And if you do, please share it with others.

Fantasia ~ noun
1: a free usually instrumental composition not in strict form and often an improvisatory style
2a: a work (such as a poem or play) in which the author's fancy roves unrestricted
2b: something possessing grotesque, bizarre, or unreal qualities

band photo by Jamie Kronick

Pear Tree pre-orders open!

Adrianna Ciccone and I have recorded a Christmas album! Entitled The Pear Tree, it is an eight track fiddle and harp instrumental album. We've arranged a selection of our favourite carol melodies along with some original tunes and traditional tunes. Visit bandcamp to see the track listing and to hear a preview track! The album will be released on November 15, 2024. 

You can pre-save the album on streaming services here: Pre-Save!

Fight Song

Scions' debut album "To Cry Out In The Wilderness" will be released on November 8th! In the meantime, we have released our first single "Fight Song" today.

The song features Cormac Culkeen (vocals), Andrew MacKelvie (bass clarinet), India Gailey (cello), Ellen Gibling (harp), Ross Burns (electric guitar), Gabriella Ciurcovich (double bass), Dave Grenon (live processing & effects), Michael Cloud Duguay (voice), Rebecca Fairless (pipe organ) Donald MacLennan (violin), Al Melnyk (granular synth), and the Scions choir: Jay Perry, Arden Rogalsky, Janet Ross, Jenny Lapp, Valmy Assam, Tamsin Robson, Stephen Burns, Sophie Noel, NAT chantel, Lance Sampson

Produced by Michael Cloud Duguay
Recorded by Jake Nicoll + his solar-powered Scamper RV at St. George’s Round Church
Engineered by Jake + Dave Grenon
Mixed by Steve Chahley
Mastered by East End Mastering

The album photo comes from the archive of the Halifax Regional Fire Department, and shows the St. George’s round church steeple mid-blaze during the fire of 1994. 

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, FACTOR, the Government of Canada, Canada’s private radio broadcasters, and Ontario Creates.

 

Elsewhere

Olivia Barrett's debut album, Elsewhere, was released yesterday! Elsewhere is full of incredible tunes, most of them originals, realized by Olivia's elegant and impeccable fiddling. The wonderful Adam Dobres (guitar) and Adrian Dolan (mandolin, accordion, piano, recording engineer) feature on this record, with harp appearing on a few tracks too (Sparkle Horse, Last Light, Mountain Blessing)

Monophilia Recording Sessions

Last month I travelled to rural Ontario for a fun few days of recording for an upcoming project composed by Tom Richards! 

Pink Breath

Daughter of a Drum (Aoife McAtamney) released her stunning debut album Pink Breath today! The music on this record is luscious, anthemic, and deeply personal, and it was an honour to contribute harp to a couple of tracks: Heart River, and Youth.

The Mountain Blessing / The Secret Elsewhere

Olivia Barrett just released the first single from her upcoming album! This track features two beautiful original tunes of Olivia's. I contributed some harp sounds to these tunes and Adrian Dolan contributed accordion and production wizardry! Special thanks to Joel Waddell for making some remote tracking possible here in Halifax. Stay tuned for Olivia's full album, coming in September!

Studio time

Adrianna Ciccone and I were in the studio this weekend with recording engineer Graeme Campbell. New music coming later this year!

New Hermitage + Joyful Joyful + Michael C. Duguay Recording

In June, New Hermitage, Joyful Joyful, Michael C. Duguay and many other guest musicians spent a week at St. George's Round Church in Halifax, recording an album. The album is being produced by Michael and was recorded by Jake Nicoll using the amazing mobile recording unit, the Phonoautomat.

photo by Jamie Kronick

The Bend in the Light Release Day!

 The album is out today!! 

Album pre-orders open!

On March 4th, I'll be releasing a new album of solo harp music, "The Bend in the Light"! The album includes some Irish traditional tunes and some original compositions, but is mostly comprised of newly written tunes by musicians I've encountered through playing Irish traditional music. Pre-orders are now possible on bandcamp, where you can listen to a preview track - a set of hopjigs. I'm so excited to share this music!

Losing Track of Time

The Bombadils released a new single yesterday, "Losing Track of Time". I really enjoyed working with them to make a harp part for the track! Check out the lyric video, below.

Seed recording project

Suddenly Listen organized a remote improvising project during lockdown whereby three musicians recorded individual "seed" audio tracks which other musicians then improvised with. The resulting combinations of recordings are all up on Suddenly Listen's website, here: https://www.suddenlylisten.com/general-7 

Myself and two others (Lucas Goudie and Danielle Jakubiak) were given the task of responding to Mohammad Sahraei's "seed" recording. You can hear our group's recordings here: https://www.suddenlylisten.com/copy-of-seed-1