Now available to order from:
Clay Pipe - turquoise blue vinyl
Monorail - crystal clear vinyl with booklet
Assai - transparent green vinyl with booklet
And many other good record shops.
Assai and Monorail booklets are different.
Release date 25th Nov 2022
‘Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls’ is Andrew Wasylyk’s 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.
The
initial seed of inspiration for this work 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 a "spiritual-jazz salve bathed in the cinematic”, Andrew
Wasylyk is accumulating a growing body of work. With this seven song
suite he distills these ideas and offers perhaps his most bold record
yet. ‘Hearing The Water Before Seeing The Falls’, the follow-up to
2021’s ‘Balgay Hill: Morning In Magnolia’, is framed in a hypnagogic fog
of wonder and possibility. A place to shade your dreamtime in subtle
colour.
