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

1. Enter The Woods by Minstrel Spirit: medieval, celtic, classical, pop, folk inspired music
2. Honey From The Thorn by Tim Rayborn: Medieval and Middle Eastern music
3. Aksaray by Tim Rayborn: Medieval and Middle Eastern music
4. Beautiful Earth by Bella Gaia: an iridescent landscape of gossamer melodies and labyrinthine rhythms, with a sense of celestial wonder
5. Unspoken by Jami Sieber: enchanting cello compositions
6. Christmas Through the Gateway by Osamu Kitajima and Chris Mancinelli: pan pacific ambient dance masters
7. The Almanac by Shira Kammen: early folk and celtic music.
8. LA BUCHE vol 1 by Francois Couture: Canadian composer, musician, orchestrator, arranger and sound designer
9. Lush Mechanique by Jami Sieber: enchanting cello compositions
10. Modern Carols by Mike McGuill: Diverse, intelligent electronica from London
11. Looking There by Kaissa: modern African music with elements of rhythm'n'blues, pop, and jazz
12. Bootleggers by Barbepeste Official Orchestra: Ahoy and shiver your timbers to some Irish World music with a smattering of pirates
13. Sweet Mystery by Russ Hopkins: an introspective mix of acoustic guitar based songs
14. Mistral by Shira Kammen: early folk and celtic music.
15. I Celebrate Life! by Steve Eulberg: smile-inducing, toe-tapping folkgrass
16. Santa Take the Night Off by Emma Wallace: angst-free modern ragtime
17. Folk Rattle Roll by Conway Hambone: Multi-genre instrumental and vocal conquests made with love and fuzz
18. Forest Tales by Monom: ethnotronica, World music, electronic, downtempo, ambient techno, dystopia, cinematic, far-east, Australia and Europe

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