Andrew’s hand guided by ‘beautiful’ instrument

Residency at Arbroath arts centre sees renowned Dundee musician inspired by restored harp to create work linked to surrounding landscape

When renowned Dundee-based musician and producer Andrew Mitchell was granted a five-month residency at Hospitalfield arts centre in Arbroath this year to create new music for its restored 19th Century Erard Grecian harp, he created melodies and progressions echoing the building’s unique relationship with the 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 the Bell Rock, the world’s oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse.

Now, ahead of the release of his third solo album The Paralian (dweller by the sea) on February 1 and three concerts, including Dundee’s Gardyne Theatre on January 31, Andrew, who records under the alias Andrew Wasylyk, has released a trailer of the new material which is a follow-up to his 2017 album Themes for Buildings and Spaces and his 2015 solo debut Soroky.

The 36-year-old, who is also vocalist and bassist with Dundee band The Hazey Janes and Scots indie rockers Idlewild, explained that in addition to the harp, his new work utilises a broad palette of instrumentation including flugelhorn, euphonium, oboe, string trio, vintage synthesisers, drones and upright piano.

“Hospitalfield basically invited me to take part in an extended residency over the course of a four or five-month period from January until May and it was primarily to write a suite of music for their restored Grecian harp,” he explained in an interview with The Courier.

“The Grecian harp in Hospitalfield belonged to the house’s original owners. It kind of fell into disrepair and they got it beautifully restored. It’s a real kind of work of art. It’s very beautiful.

“I don’t play harp but I was keen to face the challenge and luckily you can kind of write for harp reasonably similarly to piano – or rather you can write for harp using the piano.”

Using the instruments at Hospitalfield, Andrew also took field recordings of birds and the lapping waves at Seaton cliffs, and of seals basking at the Bell Rock.

These elements started “seeping” into the writing, he explained, and the harp-based arrangements grew into larger pieces.

Andrew’s friend Pete Harvey – who plays in fellow Scottish band Modern Studies – did a “wonderful” job arranging the strings on four pieces, while the harp pieces themselves were played by Glasgow-based Welsh harpist Sharron Griffiths.

Andrew – who records under the solo alias Andrew Wasylyk in memory of his Ukrainian-born grandfather, Ivan Wasylyk – paid tribute on the Themes album to the “rich and fruitful” history of Dundee’s jute mills, where his great-greatgrandparents, descended from Irish stock, once plied their trade.

His latest creation has given him a fuller appreciation of how the sea influences life and landscape on Scotland’s east coast. It can be pre-ordered now.

Andrew will bring his unique blend of music to Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, on January 30; Gardyne Theatre, Dundee, on January 31 and The Blue Arrow, Glasgow, (part of Celtic Connections) on February 1.