Page 30 - the Noise July 2017

INTERVIEW
miles of emerald isles: THE RECOLLECTIVE
BY JOEY BONO
The Recollective is a Scots-Irish band consisting of Calum Morrison on vocals and guitar, Mike Coult on flute and whistle, Kieran Leonard on drums and Bodhrán, and Karen Hickey brings her delightful fiddle to round out what is a quite enchanting sound. Fresh from a successful FundIt campaign for a self-titled album of traditional reels and original songs, the band reveals it’s quite the task keeping it all together, as all play in different groups and have concurrent solo endeavors crisscrossing throughout Europe in the lead- up to their US tour, with a stop and 4-day instruction course in Flagstaff.
You have all played in different groups and ensembles; give us some quick insight into how the Recollective formed?
The Recollective was formed during a short tour of France with the Irish dance show “Celtic Legends.”We were all part of the band for that show, and realized we all had a shared desire to play more of our own music and have complete creative control over the music we were playing, plus it didn’t hurt that we all got on really well together, so we thought, “why not start playing the music we love?”
What influences can you all speak to outside of the Celtic tradition, and are there any Ameri- can influences in particular?
We all listen to a variety of different styles of music outside the Celtic genre. A lot of tra- ditional musicians are influenced by American bluegrass, country and ol’ time musicians, and we definitely love those American styles of playing too. We draw on all sorts of different styles of music, Kieran and Karen both have backgrounds in classical, as well as traditional music; and we love Eastern European folk music, jazz, rock, and pop. We all do hope that our album and live show gives an inkling of thinking outside the realm of traditional Irish and Scottish music.
There’s a beautiful sense of melancholy on the transition of “Vals Til Mor Og (Far into The Midge)” with an uplifting tempo guided by Karen’s fiddle. Calum, can you speak to the inspira- tion for The Midge?
There’s a pretty funny story behind the writing of “The Midge.” It’s rather embarrassing for my girlfriend so maybe I shouldn’t mention exactly what I wrote it about, but let’s say it was written after she found herself in a particularly awkward situation. I thought it was hilarious and just wanted to write a light-hearted and happy sounding tune that reflected the mood at the time.
Give our readers a sense of the writing style and composition process the band typically em- ploys? Does one of you bring in lyrics and a composition, and then you all build on that, or is it different with each tune?
The songs and tunes are arranged similarly, one of the group will bring a tune or song that they’d like to explore with the band and we’ll build up arrangements piece by piece. It all starts off very simply at first, but we always try to emphasize something the audience can connect with on some level. Whether or not it’s something they might not have heard musically, or maybe something relatable and emotional, such as some of our songs. Not every tune or song makes the cut and sometimes we can disagree on the direction we think a piece of music should take, but we’re good at working out the kinks together and always
end up with something that we’re happy with in the end!
You all have degrees in music from various universities; is there any one of you that secretly wants to be a painter?
Calum has dabbled in the dark arts of painting (and decorating) before and quite enjoys it! We all have a load of things we like to do outside playing music. We all love to travel, so the lifestyle certainly suits us. None of us are quite ready to give up on music yet ... It has been kind to us over the years!
With “Gin I Were a Baron’s Heir” written by Robbie Burns, how did you select that tune to be on the album?
Calum has been singing the song for quite a number of years. He originally heard it as a slow ballad sung by the famous Scottish singer Dougie MacLean, but quite liked the idea of singing it in a more upbeat style. The rest of the band really liked it and the arrangement for that song seemed to take care of itself.
Your visit to Flagstaff starts with a week-long session teaching at the Celtic Arts Academy; how do you all see participating in this as a way to pass along musical traditions?
Teaching is always a large part of any traditional musician’s life and an important part, too. We wouldn’t be where we are without lots of teachers helping us along the way. Al- though there’s a lot more access to traditional music online and YouTube lessons are grow- ing in popularity, it’s still essential to see traditional musicians in action. The social aspect of traditional music is a massive part of its culture, and seeing the respect and love people have for traditional music is an important part of the learning process, which we hope to pass on.
There’s also a house show on this tour July 18th in Tucson, is that the band’s first foray into more intimate concert settings?
Due to the nature of traditional music, it is inherently intimate a lot of the time. We have all played traditional music to thousands of people internationally, as well as audiences from as little as 5 people (maybe less). A bigger audience certainly does not mean a better show. We understand that every show is different and you really need to play to your sur- roundings and audience; luckily that’s something every member of the band has a lot of experience with. We’re looking forward to the house concert as much as any other gig we’ll be doing in the US.
The Recollectives sound is enveloped in a beautiful sense of melancholy with triumphant movements, eliciting oscillations of sadness and elation in the listener.
This is especially present on the opening track, “The Recollective March,” written by Ms. Hickey. It starts with a driving fiddle ... one can almost see the steam powered trains forg- ing across the American West full of passengers with swollen bellies of hope setting their first sights on the vast expansive sky, unlimited possibilities abound; yet stitched together with ever-present yearnings for the familiarities of home.
Hear for yourself when The Recollective is in concert July 14 at Trinity Heights United Methodist Church; with tickets available at LivingTraditionsPresentations.com and Arizona Music Pro.
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