Andrew Wasylyk today announces ‘Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls’, his second LP for the esteemed Clay Pipe Music label. It sees the Scottish composer and producer reach for new ground, finding quietly sublime imagery in rich and immersive worlds; horizon-less oceans and limitless landscapes.
In addition to the new LP, Andrew has today also confirmed a series of new UK live shows with his eight-piece ensemble including playing a live show at LIVERPOOL PHILHARMONIC this Sunday (11th December).
Final few tickets available now via https://www.liverpoolphil.com/bookevent/andrew-wasylyk/257001ALJHVCGKJCNBJQHJBLCTCJDNCBR
The initial seed of inspiration for the new album was conceived as a commissioned response to ‘The World’s Edge’ exhibition by American contemporary landscape photographer Thomas Joshua Cooper at the National Galleries of Scotland.
Andrew journeyed with Cooper to Inchcolm Island in the Firth of Forth to learn of the artist’s practice – specifically, his three decades of travel across five continents, capturing cardinal points and extreme locations surrounding the Atlantic Ocean, many of which will be under water within 35 years as a result of the impact of our changing climate.
From the deep allure of the sea to the symbolism and folklore of flowers, a dreaming to leave or a longing to stay, “Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls” utilises the ideas behind TJC’s work as a point of departure. Exploring outwardly in search of a better understanding within, themes of longing, self-discovery, new parenthood and premonitions weave through a Wasylyk album of melodic succour.
In ‘Dreamt In The Current Of Leafless Winter’; ambiences and devotional bells are imbued with the visceral playing of saxophonist/composer Angus Fairbairn, aka Alabaster DePlume, whose unmistakable tone casts ethereal and impressionistic hues across this striking, long form opener.
Elsewhere, string phrases flourish in pockets between restrained drum groove and light-touch piano chords of ‘The Confluence’, conducted by Pete Harvey (Modern Studies). Harvey’s sonorous arrangements augmented Andrew’s ‘The Paralian’ (2019) and ‘Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation’ (2020). Again, they illuminate and articulate throughout this collection.
The arc of present and past is examined in ‘The Life Of Time’, featuring words and narration by Thomas Joshua Cooper himself. His rich, baritone transcends amongst a rolling piano motif, undulating violins and the mellifluous brass work of Rachel Simpson.
With ‘Truant In Gossamer’ a new absence is felt while synthesised arpeggios glide and intertwine with glistening harp in the cadence of a farewell vibraphone. Steadily, this luminous journey dissolves and comes to a remarkable end.
Previously described as “spiritual-jazz salve bathed in the cinematic”, Andrew Wasylyk is accumulating a growing body of work. With this new seven-song suite he distils these ideas and offers perhaps his boldest record yet. ‘Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls’, the follow-up to 2021’s ‘Balgay Hill: Morning In Magnolia’, (longlisted for Scottish Album Of The Year Award, 2022) is framed in a hypnagogic fog of wonder and possibility. A place to shade your dreamtime in subtle colour.
