Photos from Consequences Launch

I can’t believe it’s now three months since the launch of Consequences at Celtic Connections! Time flies…

It’s been lovely to reflect on such a fun, exciting project – huge thanks to Creative Scotland for their support. Here are some photos from the event.

Kim Edgar – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

Kim Edgar – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

Horse McDonald – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

Boo Hewerdine & Kim Edgar – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

Dan Bettridge – photographer Louise Mather

 

Goodnight Louisa – photographer Louise Mather

 

J-P Piirainen – photographer Louise Mather

 

Sandra Le Couteur & Kim Edgar – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

James Grant – photographer Louise Mather

 

Louis Abbott – photographer Louise Mather

 

Mattie Foulds – photographer Louise Mather

 

Kevin McGuire – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

Mikey Owers & Matt Gough – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

Steven Polwart, Goodnight Louisa, Kim Edgar, Dan Bettridge & Horse McDonald – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

Kim Edgar and Friends on stage at Saint Luke’s Glasgow 02/02/2023 during Celtic Connections 2023 – photographer Campbell Skinner

 

MORE LOVELY REVIEWS!

Kim Edgar - Consequences

I’m delighted to share several lovely reviews which have come in for CONSEQUENCES over the past weeks:

“diverse, satisfying and sumptuous” * * * * The Scotsman – read full review HERE.

“particularly affecting images…an ambitious project, initially released as a song a month and now

gathering together in this superb album” Folk Radio UK – read full review HERE.

“Very special…as good as I could have hoped..atmospheric” FATEA – read full review HERE.

““really different, thought provoking, brave and just simply beautiful…despite the dark places she transports us to, the whole experience has left me with the serene sense of hope that I felt whilst listening to that very first track.” Rocking Magpie – read full review HERE.

It’s so heartening that people have really connected with the album! I’m feeling most grateful for the whole experience.

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE – ALBUM LAUNCH!

Kim Edgar - Consequences

 

There’s still time for you to get some tickets to join me, a full band, and many of my CONSEQUENCES collaborators as we launch the album as part of Celtic Connections, this Thursday, 2nd February 2023.

Doors 7 pm for a 7.30 pm start – there will be two sets, which will feature all the songs from the album, as well as special feature songs from each of the collaborators who is joining me for the concert – so you can see why I admire their work so much!

Get your tickets now: https://www.celticconnections.com/event/1/kim-edgar-special-guests-consequences

It would be lovely if you could join me – hopefully see you there 🙂

CHARITY SINGLE FOR UNICEF

 

I am super excited that my Global Music Match team mate, J-P Piirainen – Guitele artist, is going to be joining me on stage on 2.2.23 for the Creative Scotland supported CONSEQUENCES album launch Celtic Connections, to perform our song It Only Takes A Silence, which we wrote together on the day that Russia invaded Ukraine. The song considers what it means to witness injustice without raising your voice or taking action. J-P will be bringing his fantastic instrument, the guitele, pictured here, with him – and you’ll also be treated to a solo piece to hear the beauty of its sound! Don’t miss out – GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
We’re releasing the song on 13th January 2023, with all income from the single donated to UNICEF. Thanks to Gillian Eilidh O’Mara Artist for the beautiful artwork!
You can also donate directly to support children from Ukraine through UNICEF:

TWO LOVELY CONSEQUENCES ALBUM REVIEWS!

 

I’m over the moon with these first two reviews for the CONSEQUENCES album, including a five star review! You can read the full reviews here:

https://www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com/kim-edgar-consequences-album-review-december-2022.html

https://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2022/12/14/kim-edgar-consequences-album-review/

 

CONSEQUENCES ALBUM LAUNCH @ CELTIC CONNECTIONS 2023!

Kim Edgar - Consequences
I’m beyond delighted to announce that my Creative Scotland supported album project, CONSEQUENCES, will be launched at Celtic Connections on Thursday 2nd February, 7.30 pm at St. Luke’s & The Winged Ox!
GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.
Please join me and a fantastic band of musicians: Mattie Foulds, Kevin McGuire, Steven Polwart , Mikey Owers and Matt Gough! We’ll have many of my collaborators as special guests: Horse, Boo Hewerdine, Dan Bettridge, Goodnight Louisa, J-P Piirainen, Sandra Le Couteur, James Grant and Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow) – it’s going to be a whole lot of fun!
#ccfest2023

Collaboration 12 – William Crighton

30.9.22

Here’s our finished song – In The Long Run!

“It’s not enough to ask the question

When will these horrors cease?

Boxes pile up all around us

’Til we commit to peace”

Another first for this final month of the CONSEQUENCES project – William and I collaborated over Facebook Messenger! And it’s incredible that we managed to pull it off, considering that William was touring Europe at the time…

I have deeply admired the passion and the political content in William’s work, which you can get to know yourself here: https://williamcrightonmusic.com.au/ William and I had talked about ideas of refuge and compassion in advance by email, which led to us exchanging some lyrical ideas around the impact of war on the most vulnerable in our society. Having accidentally missed William’s best window of opportunity for collaborating earlier in the year, I’m extremely grateful that he was still up for the collaboration, even though it meant him recording ideas (like the lyrics and melody of the refrain!) into his phone, straight after coming off stage at a festival!

A huge thank you to the talented creative team who helped bring the song to life in this recording, and with whom it’s been a delight to work with over the course of the project  – to Mattie Foulds (drums, production), Kevin McGuire (bass) and Mikey Owers (vocals, brass).

It’s maybe not the upbeat way some might want to finish an album, but it feels right to me that we’re acknowledging  the reality and the horror of what’s happening across the world right now. Nevertheless, I’m pleased to end the album on an offer of warmth and comfort – something that those of us lucky enough to be in a position of privilege can choose to give others.

#committopeace #refugeeswelcome #consequences #quietlyfantasticmusic #kimedgar #williamcrighton

27.9.22

My twelfth and final songwriting collaborator in the Creative Scotland supported CONSEQUENCES project is William Crighton whose powerful work I had the luck to discover through Global Music Match. By the end of the month, all being well, we’ll be sharing a recording of our song! I’ll also write a wee blog about the experience.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to support the project by pre-ordering the CD of the album for delivery in October 2022, you can do so here:

https://kimedgar.com/product/consequences-cd-pre-order/

Thanks for all your support!

Collaboration 11 – Louis Abbott

31.8.22

Here’s our finished song – Whisper Pink

“Whisper pink, feel the ground

Far away from blissful ignorance

Far away from blissful…”

Louis Abbott is a very busy man! In amongst his fantastic work with Admiral Fallow (who incidentally released a new EP, Electric Eyes, in May), Louis is the Creative Lead at Vox Liminis, an inspirational arts and community organisation working within criminal justice – sparking fresh conversations and insights so that our responses to crime, harm and conflict might (re)build connections, trust and belonging rather than further divisions.

Established in 2013, Vox Liminis run creative projects in prison and in the wider community with people who have committed crimes, people who have been victims of crime, those who have family experience of crime and justice processes and others who work in this area. I was lucky to work with Louis recently on the AMPLIFY songwriting project with young people in Edinburgh, in collaboration with Edinburgh International Festival and Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre. And Vox have just announced Paper Planes – a new monthly release showcasing songs written across their projects – you can check out the first Paper Planes here, including a beautiful song performed by Louis: https://www.voxliminis.co.uk/paper-planes/  I’m delighted that in addition to all this, he managed to squeeze in a collaboration with me for this project…

It’s the first time I’ve ever collaborated over WhatsApp! But it really worked 🙂 Louis was a great communicator, and a positive and thoughtful collaborator. We considered missing something, or someone, or home, and what that feels like, whether that’s because of the nature of someone’s work, or circumstances like the pandemic…and the song grew from there.

A huge thank you to the talented creative team who helped bring the song to life in this recording – to Louis himself, who, despite his extremely busy schedule, contributed acoustic guitar playing to the recording, and to Mattie Foulds (drums, production), Kevin McGuire (bass) and Mikey Owers (vocals, electric guitar, brass). I hope you enjoy the song!

#achingtobehome #consequences #quietlyfantasticmusic #kimedgar #louisabbott

24.8.22

My eleventh songwriting collaborator in the Creative Scotland supported CONSEQUENCES project is Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow). I’ve had the great privilege of working alongside Louis for songwriting workshops for young people recently for Vox Liminis and previously for Music Plus, too. I’m a big fan of his songwriting, and have really enjoyed the festival sets I’ve heard from Admiral Fallow, so it’s lovely to finally have the chance to collaborate with him!

A week today, all being well, we’ll be sharing a recording of our song! I’ll also write a wee blog about the experience.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to support the project by pre-ordering the CD of the album for delivery in October 2022, you can do so here:

https://kimedgar.com/product/consequences-cd-pre-order/

Thanks for all your support!

Collaboration 10 – Rachel Sermanni

31.7.22

Here’s our finished song – Ripples

“An open door, a cup of tea

I sit down and you sit with me”

It was a truly lovely experience to collaborate with Rachel 🙂

We were, luckily, able to meet and collaborate in person. We began with a long catch up! Pre-pandemic, we were working together on a weekly basis at The BIG Project, supporting young songwriters and musicians there – we had a lot of catching up to do…

That catching up informed our writing, in the end. We spoke about the value in being listened to, and the ripple effect that can happen when you feel heard, feel seen. And how sometimes, listening is enough – indeed, is all that is required. Not trying to fix things, not trying to find a positive. Just listening.

“A space to hold

To let unfold”

It’s a small song, in many ways, but that’s what we wanted. We wanted the song to do what it said, and provide a moment for listening. What I especially love about it is the ease and simplicity of (most of) the harmonies, Rachel’s lovely turns of phrase (both in conversation and in songwriting) and how the song now reminds me of that relaxing, peaceful day we spent together in the making of it.

A huge thank you to the talented creative team who helped bring the song to life in this recording – to Rachel herself, for contributing her beautiful vocals and guitar playing, as well as some inspired arrangement ideas in the studio, and to Mattie Foulds (drums, production), Kevin McGuire (bass) and Mikey Owers (brass). I hope you enjoy the song!

#JustListening #KindnessMatters #consequences #quietlyfantasticmusic #kimedgar #rachelsermanni

20.7.22

My tenth songwriting collaborator in the Creative Scotland supported CONSEQUENCES project is Rachel Sermanni. Some of you may have noticed Rachel’s beautiful voice on my last album, HELD – during lockdown, Rachel (and Karine Polwart) kindly recorded vocals remotely for me, which gave me a lovely buzz of group harmonising at a time when that wasn’t possible in person…it felt like a hug.

I’ve also been really lucky to work (pre-pandemic) alongside Rachel delivering music making opportunities for children and young people at The BIG Project in Broomhouse, a deprived area of Edinburgh.

When I approached Rachel for this project, she mentioned that she hadn’t done that much collaborating in the past, but I’ve seen her collaborating with children and young people to make powerful, meaningful songs from their experiences, and so I was thoroughly delighted that she was up for collaborating with me for this project 🙂

By the end of the month, all being well, we’ll be sharing a recording of our song! I’ll also write a wee blog about the experience.

Meanwhile, if you’d like to support the project by pre-ordering the CD of the album for delivery in October 2022, you can do so here:

https://kimedgar.com/product/consequences-cd-pre-order/

Thanks for all your support!

Collaboration 9 – Stone

30.6.22

Here’s our finished song – I Dream! A blog will follow soon…

這是我們完成的歌—我夢見!部落格隨後就到…

1.7.22

“I dream we’re everything – no more them and us”

「我夢見我們是一體—沒有他們,沒有我們。」

This month’s collaboration is with an amazing human being and musician from Taiwan, called Stone, who is a member of the band Mayday. I was honoured to study alongside Stone at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in 2001/2. He impressed my greatly with his gentleness and humility, his generosity, and his ability to really listen, and bring what was needed to a piece of music, rather than adding more than is required (which is something I always struggle with). Stone later invited me out to visit him in Taiwan, where I was lucky enough to sing in Mandarin, and Scots, at his wedding, and to record in Mayday’s studio!

這個月呢,是跟石頭合作,一位來自臺灣,很了不起的音樂家,也同時是五月天的團員之一。我很榮幸能跟石頭在2001到2002年,一起在英國利物浦表演藝術學校唸書。讓我印象深刻的是他的溫和、謙遜、慷慨,還有他善於真心傾聽的能力,以及確切知道要為音樂加些什麼,而不是一味的無限疊加(這是我滿常感到掙扎的地方)。很幸運的,石頭之後邀請我到臺灣,並且在五月天的錄音室錄音,為他的婚禮獻唱中文歌及蘇格蘭語歌!

Dubbed as the “Beatles of the Chinese-speaking World”, Mayday are influenced by The Beatles, and try to spread the ideals of love and peace through their songs. Here’s one of their impressive live music videos from earlier this year: https://youtu.be/h6WhDdeF40Q

五月天被譽為「華語披頭四」,因為被披頭四深深的影響,他們試著透過歌曲,傳播愛的理想以及和平。這是他們年初一段令人印象深刻的現場MV:https://youtu.be/h6WhDdeF40Q

Stone and I began our collaboration by discussing what was on our minds. I shared that the invasion of Ukraine and the horrors of war, including the trauma experienced by refugees, was something I was thinking a lot about, and Stone saw a bigger picture: conflict, which has happened and continues to happen across time and across our planet, and the causes of conflict.

石頭和我在合作起初,討論了那時我們在意的事情。我分享了一件我最近想很多的事情,也就是入侵烏克蘭,還有戰爭的可怕,難民所經歷的創傷等等。然後石頭看到了更大的格局:衝突以及衝突的起因。衝突不僅發生在過去,到現在依舊持續發生,橫跨時間以及空間,

In recent years, Stone has been finding out more about Taoism, and he asked me if I knew much about it (which I did not) and kindly shared links with me to help me to educate myself about some Taoist principles and texts. He mentioned that in Taoism, there is less focus on nations or boundaries, and more focus on how an individual can relate to this world (which perhaps explains why few wars come from Taoism). Values of simplicity, humility and compassion immediately appealed to me. There are also some pretty radical ideas (to me, at least), like this one: instead of defining ourselves as distinct from others, and even other species on this earth, like plants, or animals, we could consider ourselves to be as one with everything in nature. Rather than defining things, perhaps it’s ideas and ideals that we should be defining or challenging. Do we have to follow other people’s ideas? Do we have to aspire to the same life as others? Or should we enjoy the sun, follow nature’s lead, grow vegetables and enjoy life?

近幾年,石頭越來越深入了解道家思想,他問我是否瞭解(我真的不熟悉),他也很和藹地分享一些連結給我,讓我可以自己摸索道家的道理以及文本。他提到,在道家思想裡,國家以及界線並不是重點,反而專注在個體如何跟這個世界做連結(這或許也解釋了為何以道治國會比較少有戰爭)對於簡樸、謙遜、還有同情的重視,馬上吸引了我。當然也有一些(至少對我來說)比較偏激的概念,像是這個:不把自己跟別人,甚至其他物種,像是植物或動物,劃清定義的界線;而是把自己和自然中的一切看作一體;比起定義物品,或許我們該定義或挑戰的,是想法或理想。我們需要追隨其他人的想法嗎?我們該嚮往別人的人生嗎?或是我們應該享受陽光、追隨自然的腳步、種些菜然後享受人生?

I loved this idea. It also reminded me of a saying I’ve heard: “there is no them and us, only us”. We’re all humans; what does it benefit us when we divide ourselves into groups and make judgements on one group over another?

我好愛這個想法。這也讓我想到一段我聽過的話:「沒有他們和我們,只有我們。」我們都是人類;把我們分成不同族群,然後互相評判,對我們有什麼好處嗎?

We discussed how lucky we both are that we have music as a way to communicate with others, and the fact that our music exists, and will exist, beyond our own existence. We also considered the fact you have to create, perform and listen to music “in time” – in the present; it happens over time. Music that can hold you in the present moment feels really good for the soul.

我們聊到我們都很幸運,能夠把音樂當成一種和他人溝通的方式,而且就算我們不在了,我們的音樂也會一直存在。我們也想到,人們必須「及時」—也就是「在當下」—創造、表演、以及聆聽音樂。這會隨著時間推移而發生。能在當下讓你駐足的音樂,真的能讓人感到心靈舒暢。

Finally, we talked about the concept of flow, fluidity and change; in ourselves, and our sense of ourselves, in the world, in others… and we made a plan to create music which embodied the concepts of one-ness, simplicity and flow that we had been discussing, even to the extent of me sitting at the piano and playing, without any intention (something I’ve never done!), in the moment, to see what came…

最後,我們聊到不管是在自身,還有在我們意識中的自己,或是在這個世界、在他人的流變、流動、跟改變的概念;我們希望創作出來的音樂,能體現「合一」、「簡樸」以及「流動」等之前討論過的概念,甚至到了我無意地坐在鋼琴前彈奏的程度(這我可從來沒做過!),在這時刻,等待著…

With huge thanks for the translation, provided by Alice, Instagram: @mayday_stereo