Eastside Radio’s Album of the Week is The Paralian by Andrew Wasylyk on the Athens Of The North label.
Andrew Wasylyk is the alias of Scottish writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Mitchell.
In 2018, Andrew was extended a residency invite from arts centre and historic house, Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland to create new music for their restored, 19th century, Erard Grecian harp. During Wasylyk’s five-month sojourn he created melodies and progressions echoing the building’s unique relationship with the looming North Sea horizon. Using not only the harp, but the house’s original grand piano, Andrew explored the Angus landscape and beyond, gathering field recordings on trips to neighbouring Seaton Cliffs and Bell Rock Lighthouse (the world’s oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse). Winter slipped into spring, and harp-led compositions gave way to an ambitious third, full-length album, exploring a range of themes utilising a broad palette of instrumentation, including flugelhorn, euphonium, oboe, string trio, vintage synthesisers, drones and upright piano.
From the wandering, Bob James-esque, Fender Rhodes and shimmering strings in the study of coastal light, “(Welter) In The Haar”, to the plaintive brass and farewell transmission blowing through, “Adrift Below A Constellation”, punctuated by the fragility of Wasylyk’s sole lead vocal of this collection – “The Paralian” (a dweller by the sea), is a conclusion embued with blue and golden melodies that land in a territory akin to experimentalists such as Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno. Through which, Wasylyk weaves the listener along a Modern-classical, Ambient and Jazz dream of Scotland’s east coast.
Artist: Andrew Wasylyk
Title: The Paralian
1.Through The Field Beyond The Trees Lies The Ocean
2.Greendrive #2
3.Journey To Inchcape
4.Welter In The Haar
5.Dreamt The Breakers Spill
6.Flight Of The Cormorant
7.Westway Nocturne
8.Mariner’s Hymn
9.Adrift Below A Constellation
10.Unsurfacing
Musicians
Pete Harvey, strings (tracks 4,7,8,9)
Tony Sellars, baritone saxophone
Harriet Davidson, cello
Seth Bennett, double bass
Thomas White, drums (track 8)
Sharron Griffiths, harp
Carol O’Rourke, oboe
Gordon Maclean, recorded by [piano & drums] (track 8)
The Pumpkinseeds, strings
Paul Wright, tambura
Iain Robertson, trombone and euphonium
Rachel Simpson, trumpet and flugelhorn
Emma Connell-Smith, viola
Simon Graham, violin
Matthew Marra, sleeve and layout
Mastered by Robin Sutherland
David Delruelle, design [front collage]
Written-By, Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By, Photography By [Back & Insert], Drums, Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Upright Piano, Grand Piano, Mellotron, Synthesizer [Juno], Piano [Fender Rhodes], Brass, Arranged By [Woodwind & Harp], Vocals, Percussion, Field Recording – Andrew Wasylyk