The Mews album is a modern tribute to the space between Celtic folklore and Bluegrass music. The music pays tribute to the traditional sounds of Jigs and Reels, as well as fusing different styles and taking the musical ingredients of Celtic-American folklore one step (sometimes two steps) further. The result that you have in front of you is a collection of intriguing acoustic fusion that will delight your ears and make it almost impossible not to smile. Have a listen.

New sonic textures
In the eternal quest for new sonic textures, I teamed up with Gary "Wurzle" Cogg, prolific purveyor of handmade acoustic instruments, who graciously let me go to town on the prototype of a novel instrument he is currently developing: a three-string instrument (a "Pickin' Pedal") the fret pattern of which is inspired by a mountain dulcimer, usually tuned in D-A-D or similar.

Its sound is strong in the high-mid frequencies and blends particularly beautifully with the concert ukulele that I have been using - a stellar piece of handiwork, with a beautifully balanced low-mid frequency body.

You can hear the two instruments combine on the "Poetry In Motion" track and also on "Grace", together with a larger acoustic ensemble. The concert ukulele has a solo on "Symmetric Circles", featuring the usual no-effects approach of recording two identical takes of the same instrumental part into the Left and Right stereo channels respectively.

A further chapter in dynamic range
Jasmine Brunch devotees will already have noted my mild obsession with dynamic range in audio engineering - see for instance the notes on the "4" album at http://jasminebrunch.com/4.php. In this regard, the "Mews" album introduces a slightly different spin: the tracks overall are higher in loudness since most tracks feature either (a) instruments with a naturally lower dynamic range, e.g. the accordion bass, or (b) a creative approach to recording techniques, e.g. recording one of the acoustic guitar parts less than an inch away from the microphone with extremely gentle picking, leading to longer decay times relative to the peak of the acoustic signal. As a result, it was possible to retain the full dynamic range of all other instruments while giving the overall mix sufficient loudness.

Easter Egg
Alongside the usual musical subtleties that are just a little too subtle for people to realise, I wove a fairly obvious Discrete Shepard Scale into one of the tracks and will award a prize to the first listener to get his nerd on and spot it. Prize ideas include a pack of smokes or a bottle of wine or a home-cooked supper, depending on who wins.

1. Poetry In Motion
2. Perpetual Motion
3. Grace
4. The Bookmaker's Canon
5. Brand New Day
6. Sunday Morning Sun
7. Heart Light Warm
8. Blond And Black Reel
9. Who Could Ask For Anything More
10. Skin
11. One Point Jig
12. Symmetric Circles
13. Fish Jig
14. Big Boat
15. Lullaby
16. Slide Jig
17. Little Boat
18. Saw Jig

Listen to: the entire album.

Release date: 6/27/2012
Jasmine Brunch lives in London England

Tagged as: Alt Rock, World, Folk, New Age, Instrumental New Age, Celtic, Contemporary Piano

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