Beinn Lee spent the last two years crafting their second album which was released before Christmas
Abigail Taylor
Beinn Lee members Pàdruig Morrison, Micheal Steele, Mairi Thérèse Gilfedder, James Stewart, Anna Black and Seoras Lewis were keen to follow up on their first album, Osgarra, soon after it was released in 2018. New tunes and songs were penned and the six-piece were back in the recording studio towards the end of 2019.
However, then came what no-one expected…lockdown and months of isolation as the world tried to deal with COVID-19.
“It was all going well, with just a few finishing touches that were needed, but unfortunately, COVID-19 struck,” recalled Pàdruig.
“Like many musicians, we were stuck without playing, feeling a bit low, but eventually we were able to get back to do another spell of recording and then we finally got the album out in December.
Deò is a mix of self-penned tunes and some favourites that regularly make the setlist for Beinn Lee. Recorded at Black Bay Studio in Great Bernera, with the help of Ross B Wilson, the album is available now as a CD or on streaming services and iTunes.
Beinn Lee members had hoped to promote the album at a series of gigs soon after the album was released in December. However, once more, their plans were scuppered as restrictions tightened to control the spread of COVID-19.
“It has been a really positive reaction so far, but it has been strange as we haven’t had any gigs to play, which has been a bit gutting. But from the online response and with family and friends being in touch to say that the album is being enjoyed, we are happy so far. Social media has been great, to see the reaction on Instagram and Facebook. I don’t think we will know ourselves until we play it live, and hopefully it will be really well received,” explained Mairi Thérèse.
Several planned shows for the Celtic Connections festival were also cancelled due to coronavirus measures, but now the rules are being relaxed, band members are feeling more optimistic and pencilling in some gigs for later in 2022.
“We have to try to make the most of releasing a physical album, because we literally make nothing from the streaming services, so we really want to sell them and something that has been really great, is the folk on the islands, of all ages, supporting us and going into local shops here and buying the CD. Normally we would anticipate having a whole run of gigs in line with the release so we are looking hopefully to have something coming up within a couple of months, both a launch event in Glasgow and a big event at home,” continued Pàdruig.
While the delay in finishing the album was a disappointment at first, it has turned out that having a break created more opportunities for Beinn Lee.
“We had a bit more time to develop our sounds,” said Mairi Thérèse.
“I think the first album that a band releases is often an accumulation of stuff that they have been playing since they started and in some ways that makes it a bit easier. But when the second one comes it’s time to get the thinking cap on to decide how you want to develop,” added Pàdruig.
“We have a bigger sound in our sets now for festivals and gigs and, during COVID-19, when we were just playing ourselves, it was stripped back, so we felt we had to include that as well. I’m glad we had the opportunity to record more to add these changes to the album.”
Beinn Lee remain true to their roots, having included samples from past generations on Deò.
Mairi Thérèse explained: “I was researching for my masters degree and came across a recording on Tobar an Dualchais, which included my grandfather, Donald ‘Sunndachan’ MacPhee, who was a well-known whisky and coal merchant but he also played the fiddle, and on the recording he is singing. I had discussed it before with the band and we had put it to the side, but after we had finished the first recording of the opening track we knew it just wasn’t working and then Pàdruig remembered about this recording. I am not sure where the tune came from, but we think it’s an old traditional one that worked really well and so we took a sample of his voice and it’s on the track. I think it’s so important to us to give a nod to these characters as we are influenced by them all.”
“We are all Uist musicians and we think a lot about how that manifests itself in our style and our tunes, even in our newer tunes we have written ourselves, they have connections to places or people in and then other traditional choices tie in, that are popular here. We definitely feel it is important to reflect upon and have a nod to our roots in Uist.”
