Now available for orders: digital download and CD on bandcamp
STORMBIRD features acclaimed musicians: Hamish Napier, James Mackintosh, James Lindsay, Ross Ainslie, Becky Doe and Iain Forrest – produced by Hamish Napier, Will Boyd-Wallis and Andrea Gobbi.
The STORMBIRD songs are all themed on the sea. The first, Fistful of Sand, featuring Ross Ainslie on whistle, is a powerful portrayal of the unjust clearance of the 300 strong community from the Isle of Rum in 1826. It immortalises Will’s great-great-grandfather John Mòr McLean, only a year old when they were evicted. The Ballad of Billy and Eilidh is a cautionary folk tale with a foot-tapping tune lifted by Iain Forrest’s slide guitar. Sandstone is a love story about a man who loves a woman who loves the sea, defined by Becky Doe’s viola and a heart-wrenching piano solo by Hamish Napier. Into the Open began life in a secret cave during lockdown and became a message of hope inspiring the artist Stephen Redpath to paint the watercolour featured on the CD sleeve. The title track Stormbird, marks a moment in time and stretches it into an intense rendition of a life changing encounter with a Leach’s Storm Petrel on the cliffs of St Kilda.
The EP is dedicated to Will’s mother ‘Maha McLean’ who died just two months after the EP was released. She was the great-granddaughter of John Mòr McLean.