Surreal day – Heriot Toun studio is the best place in the world to watch the weather from – and what weather! As we played, absolutely 100% horizontal snow pelted past, ……………………yes – just like that, only to clear for sun, then another bout of snow. The blinds had to go up and down every few minutes to shield screens and eyes from the sun’s glare – and at one moment the electric lights all had to go on – looked like nightfall but wasn’t.
I’ve had an interest in Kate Young since we played a piece of hers with her at the last Distil Showcase week – back in May. We didn’t really do it justice – I know that some of the syncopations were sloppy – so I was pleased to find out that she was equally interested in working with us again! Pippa gently took her through her various effects options, popped them all onto a little mixer with slides and buttons, and had her participate on this new “instrument” with the quartet – she sat facing us (sometimes with the sun behind her, sometimes demonic weather) bent over her machine infernale with a slightly demented concentration and, at times, a lot of vigorous movement. I make her sound like a child with an expensive toy – which is rather unfair – she had a clear idea of what she wanted and seemed to learn a lot very quickly.
At the end of the day we all, albeit with a certain amount of pushing, managed to get our vehicles out. Whether we have the same luck getting in today is anyone’s guess.
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