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Gillian `Fleetwood
This is a strikingly textured tableau of a debut solo album...from its Debussy-esque impressionism to a near-orchestral sounding track ****
Gorgeous and atmospheric. Fleetwood’s deft playing of Hospitalfield's 200-year-old Erard Grecian harp sparkles like frosty blades of grass on a bright winter's day, adding an almost mystical feel to a record that otherwise sounds undeniably rooted in Scotland.
Flexible Ensemble (variable number of performers)
Instrumentation
- Gillian Fleetwood - Harp, vocals
- C Duncan - Bass, vocals, piano
- Suz Appelbe - 'Cello
- Laura Jane Wilkie - Violin/ fiddle
Repertoire
We perform as a duo, quartet, sextet (adding percussion and brass to list below) or Gillian can perform solo. Most of our repertoire is based on the album "Together With Yourself At Sea Level", composed and arranged by Gillian herself. However, we also perform Scottish Traditional Music, songs by C Duncan (who has himself composed for the RSNO) and music from Laura Jane Wilkie's album Vent.
Prices are for the quartet but please do inquire and I will be happy to supply for expanded or contracted line-ups.
This is a very versatile and fiercely cross-genre ensemble who have performed music from across the spectrum for their whole careers to create a varied and captivating performance.
Biography
Gillian is a Scottish harper, composer and singer based in Glasgow, Scotland. She has been a
key player in the Scottish Harp scene for many years as part of The Duplets, and in her own
right as a tutor and examiner, but she has also accrued a loyal fan-base on the indie scene
through her work with Agnes Obel, Pictish Trail and Adam Ross among others. Her career
has taken her all over the world and she is proud to have inspired many people to say “I
never knew the harp could do that”.
“Together With Yourself at Sea Level” is Gillian's first fully self-composed solo album and aims to expand the capacity of expectation on the harp as a versatile instrument, able to carry and sensitively communicate the story of this music as a vehicle for resilience and introspection.
This project has been a collaboration with producer C Duncan- Mercury Award nominee and
multiple Scottish Album Of The Year Award nominated composer, blending his own chamber
pop sensibilities with Gillian’s traditional upbringing.
The album has been recorded on a very rare and beautiful 210 year old Erard Grecian pedal
harp housed in an art school in Arbroath, where most of the album was recorded. This
connection with such an old and precious instrument is key to themes of the project as the
music is an exploration of recovery, time, health and how art, nature and music carry us
through when we let them.
The music seeks to take an optimistic approach to understanding the process of enduring
trauma to reach a point of resolution, and meeting yourself along the way. Making this album
has been crucial in helping Gillian recharge and become optimistic about the deep channels
of resilience we can find in the arts and our place in time, nature and craft.
It has been received well and called “really gorgeous” by Guy Garvey on BBC Radio 6
music, received a 4 star review in the Scotsman who called it “a strikingly textured tableau”
as well as a host of other positive reviews and acclaim.
Gillian will be touring both as a soloist and with her quartet of Laura Jane Wilkie, Suz Appelbe
and C Duncan
Contact
