Decemberwell Decade is the new album Nairn musician Mike Vass has made
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Ten years after making his Decemberwell album – music written to express a Scottish winter – Nairn’s Mike Vass has created Decemberwell Decade but with 10 other musicians playing on it instead.
The new album – a folk-trad-jazz-classical fusion – is out on November 18 on digital and as a CD and was made last December.
It saw Mike revisit the original concept. Only this time, he wrote the music and invited 10 musicians to come into Gloworm Studio in Glasgow where they each spent a day with him as engineer and producer, playing the music he had written.
Mike explained: “In 2010, I was working as a peripatetic fiddle teacher travelling to schools in Argyll and the winter was horrendous.
“I basically couldn’t get to any of the schools because the roads were closed because of snow.
“So the following year they decided not to schedule me in December just because it was expected the roads would be closed again.
“So I decided to spend that month writing some music inspired by the winter in Scotland.
“I bought a laptop, an audio interface, a couple of microphones and taught myself about production and recording.
“The idea was to write and record a little bit every day, then the tracks I made I’d release the following year. That was the original Decemberwell.
“And because it is 10 years on, I don’t know if it’s because I’m feeling a bit nostalgic, but I decided I would try it again, but do it differently.
“On the original I played all the instruments – fiddle, cittern, mandolin, guitar and percussion, basically layering up and overdubbing myself over and over again to kind of get this band sound, almost.
“This time, I just turned it on its head and thought I wouldn’t play at all on this one!
“The only thing was I was engineering and trying to produce too.
“It was almost like doing two jobs, so it was quite exhausting. And because it was quite intense, starting on December 1 and trying to get it done by December 31 – I had to go on the laptop on Christmas Day last year for a few hours!
“I’m really glad I did the album, though it was a big challenge.”
Talking of big challenges, Mike will be far away from Glasgow or his original hometown of Nairn when the album comes out, planning another launch – in Lyme Regis!
Mike laughed: “I’m on sabbatical – I’ve been on a boat-building course since March. I grew up sailing with my dad on the Moray Firth and I’m a boat nut. I found out about the course and thought now was the perfect time!
“Eight of us have built three boats between us and – though it’s not the best time of year – we’ll be launching the boats into the harbour on December 14!”
n Decemberwell Decade is out on November 18. See: mikevass.com
