When Medwyn phoned to ask if I would like to collaborate on Druid 3, I thought he must have dialed the wrong number. Any other explanation seemed unplausible. I said YES before he could backtrack on the suggestion . . .
It is fair to say that if I hadn't been introduced to his original and pioneering Druid trilogy back in the early 1990's, my own recording career would never have got off the ground. At that time, the standard “New Age” recording genre consisted mainly of sweet piano themes built around early synth arrangements often accompanied by over-loud natural sounds. Nice if you like that kind of thing but perhaps lacking in the kind of mysterious atmospheres that are possible to create with the technology we have today. Medwyn's original Druid album broke the mould with an altogether darker, arcane and mystical mood. The iconic main “Nine Maidens” theme was unusual, based around a constant low frequency drone overlaid with sparse arrangements and evocative sound effects with oodles of reverb. I was hooked and had no idea that one day Med and I would collaborate and become the best of friends.
While trawling through various recording magazines in WH Smiths a few days later, I stumbled across the now-defunct “Home Recording” with an article “How to record New Age music – Part 2” advertised on the front cover. I never did get to find Part 1 and often wonder how many pearls of wisdom this might have contained that would have changed my whole approach . . . but to get back to the main point . . .
“Nine Maidens” is a Bronze Age stone circle. Situated in a windswept part of the rugged Cornish moorland, a visit to this landmark was Medwyn's inspiration behind the original track. I have always had a curious (some would say obsessive) fascination with stone circles ever since my father took me to Stonehenge when I was nine years old. I was aware of an intermittent low frequency sound at the time when wandering around within the circle and I was trying to understand what could be making such a strange and elusive noise. Some later acoustic studies suggest the stones might have been shaped to focus sound into the centre of the circle and maybe wind blowing across the henge could produce a similar effect as blowing across a bottle? If this is true, many other people would have reported it but I have a condition known as synaesthesia which can be triggered by sounds and landscapes where my sound and visual senses get mixed up. Not as vividly as I would like but very useful in producing atmospheric musical ideas. Low frequency drones were a feature of Medwyn's album, as well as being found in much Middle Eastern, Indian and some genres of Folk music, and have since become a regular constituent of much of my own music.
For those of you out there with a nerdy interest in myths and legends, the Nine Maidens were young women turned to stone by magic after their merrymaking and dancing woke a sleeping giant. An alternative version of the legend has it that the young women offended Christian sensibilities by dancing on a Sunday and are now doomed to dance silently through eternity. A somewhat harsh punishment whichever version most appeals to you. Curiously, there are more than nine stones in this circle but let's not get into this.
So . . . back to the point (again) . . . in producing Druid 3, we wanted to keep to the same sparse and atmospheric format as the original while taking advantage of technological improvements made possible by today's studio technology. If you are one of those happy people who appreciated the earlier Druid albums, this one could be for you.
Being asked to collaborate with Med has been a huge privilege for me for all the reasons mentioned in this somewhat long and rambling note as well as a few more besides. As well as being a lot of fun to record, Druid 3 marks a milestone in my own musical journey that started off with a hopeful demo tape way back in late 1992. Five out of seven record companies said yes at the time although one of them took a whole year to respond. Such was the pace of New Age publishing back in the 1990's. So, big thanks to Med & Wendy for their friendship, help and advice in keeping my musical career on track and for keeping the dream alive. As ever, a further double helping of thanks (with extra topping) to all of you lovely people and Happy Hippies out there for supporting my music throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy DRUID 3:-)
