• CD in digipack (includes 16-page booklet)

  Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

  • 
  • 
  REVIEWS IN THE PRESS/MEDIA:
  
  ★★★★★ “Scintillating…brilliantly vivid”
  - The Scotsman
  
  ★★★★ “Capturing the emotions and atmospheres of his Speyside inspiration…The River brought history, myth and mood into the present.”
  - The Herald
  
  “Through his music he paints portraits of the river’s endless moods and mysteries…with such care and depth of emotion it’s impossible to avoid the irresistible pull of the current.”
  - Folk Radio UK
  
  “An excellent flute player.”
  - The Guardian
  
  “The River is a glorious album, one of vigorous desire and plentiful absolution.”
  - Liverpool Sound & Vision
  
  “A stellar live ensemble…”
  - Sunday Herald
  
  “The most amazing whistle player and genius composer…a completely beautiful and inspirational album…beautiful from start to finish…a masterpiece.”
  – Phil Brown, BBC Radio Lancashire
  
  "The album sounds fantastic...loads of great tunes and it is absolutely jam-packed with great ideas, a superb album altogether...It's one of these albums you can go back to again and again and again, and get more out of it each time."
  Bruce MacGregor, BBC Radio Scotland 'Travelling Folk'
  
  
  
  Q: What do I get if I order the CD?
  A: The album comes in a gorgeous-looking black and white digipack, including a 16 page booklet, all artwork and design by the fabulous Somhairle MacDonald somhairle.co.uk. Also includes vintage photos of the River Spey taken by local photographers in the the 1930s and 40s.
  
  
  Q: Why 'The River'? What's it about?
  A: Well...growing up on the banks of the river Spey (100 yards from it!), I spent many hours practicing to the roar of the river in the background, so it's always been there in my music.
  
  This piece brings to the surface vivid sonic images of occurrences, past and present, along the mile-long stretch of the Spey that flows past my childhood home. One of my brother's fishes it, the other canoes it, my Uncle Sandy photographed it, my mother paints it, and there's my Father's daily fascination with its erratically changing water level. It will always symbolize home and a strong connection to nature. No mortal's relationship with the river can ever be truly harmonious, its ever-changing micro-climate, mysteriously dark depths and unrelenting power are both merciless and enchanting.
  
  For my first solo album I wanted to make almost exclusive use of all of my musical resources and so the piece features many flute, whistles, pianos and keyboards - the sounds that are at the core of all my music. There's a wee tip of the hat to my favourite folk band 'Flook', in the alto flute and bodhran combination, played by Admiral Fallow's flautist Sarah Hayes, and Treacherous Orchestra's bodhran player Martin O'Neill. Also performing is are two members of top Scottish folk band 'Breabach': bassist James Lindsay and piper Calum MacCrimmon who is actually not piping but instead singing Canntaireachd - the ancient chanting language of the bagpipes. The project was engineered and coproduced beautifully by Glasgow-based Italian electronica musician Andrea Gobbi (Laki Mera, Ross AiInslie & Jarlath Henderson and Treacherous Orchestra), who created most of the soundscapes on the album.
  
  www.andreagobbi.co.uk
  
  
  Q: Who's on the record"
  A: The album features a lineup of Scottish musicians that Glasgow's 'Sunday Herald' recently described as "a Stellar ensemble"':
  
  Hamish Napier - whistles, wooden flutes, piano, harmonium, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer 200A, bean pod shakers and backing vocals
  Sarah Hayes - alto flute
  James Lindsay - double bass
  Martin O'Neill - bodhran
  Andrea Gobbi - synths and post-production
  Calum MacCrimmon - Vocals (Canntaireachd)
  Oystercatchers, Blackbirds, Curlews, Heron and River Spey - vocals
  
  Includes unlimited streaming of The River via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. ... more
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• Digital Album

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  Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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• Full Digital Discography

  6

  releases

  Get all 6 Hamish Napier releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

  Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Badenoch The Storylands Vol.1 - Folk Tales, The Schawaldouris [Wanderers in the Woods], The Tree of Eternity (feat. Duncan Chisholm), The Woods, The Railway, and The River. , and , .

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