Caught by the River

Erland Cooper – Haar

23rd February 2019

Watch the video for brand new Erland Cooper track ‘Haar’:

On ‘Haar’ (a sea mist which, in Orkney, can form for miles and consume an entire harbour of fishing boats), Cooper plays piano, Minimoog & tape loops, scoring his live ensemble – Anna Phoebe (violin), Jacob Downs (viola), Lottie Greenhow (soprano) and a new addition, classically trained cellist Klara Schumann. With a simple motif, Schumann symbolises the voice of the sea. Field recordings of thunder, during a breaking Orkney sky, punctuate and distort the low end, while Leo Abrahams brings a sense of calm on ambient guitar.

The track’s video, a collaboration with visual artist Alex Kozobolis, was filmed in and around Stromness, with the ghosts of the harbour echoing across cobbled streets and plainstones.

‘Haar’ is taken from Erland’s newly announced album Sule Skerry, which to be released by Phases on 17 May. Sule Skerry is the second album in a triptych shaped by Erland’s childhood home, the Orkney Islands, and in particular by the air, sea and land as it was celebrated by Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown.

Erland plays our upcoming Caught by the River Calder event at Hebden Bridge’s Trades Club on 30 March (for which tickets are scarce – bag one here!)  as well as a sold out show at London’s Barbican Centre on 16 May, and Edinburgh Queen’s Hall on 24 May.

You can pre-order Sule Skerry here.