Ross-shire musician Peter Noble debuts his latest set of songs in a wider music project based on the Cromarty Firth area – a live performance of some of the music at Alness's The Field on Saturday needs audience to play a part!
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Ross-shire-based musician Peter Noble has just completed the latest part of his ongoing project to capture the Cromarty Firth in sound and music – and will be performing some of his work live for the first time at The Field in Alness on Saturday, August 27 at 1pm, as part of the Dandelion Festival project.
His latest album of songs – also featuring his local area in sound – is Following The Water’s Flow, the third part of a project he began last October when he released Walking North, songs based on a series of walks he had done and recorded over lockdown. Since then, Peter has also completed In The Lee Of The Wind, recording the sound of the wind in different trees around the Cromarty Firth to inspire his second set of songs.
In the latest collection, Peter captures the sound of water at locations including the Averon River, Nigg Bay, Foulis, paddling at sea and under a pier at Invergordon.
As has been the case each time, Peter first had a series of challenges to work round to achieve his goal. This time – having got an underwater mic for his birthday – he realised the sound underwater often doesn’t reveal very much.
“There has to be something happening – waves and a running river, or throwing a stone into the river – that all worked, or if I was paddling the canoe, sometimes I would dip the mic under the water so you felt you were underneath the water and then back up again.”
Going back to the start of the entire project, Peter said: "I guess part of this whole inspiration comes from another idea I heard about when I was really young, it was the songlines of aboriginal people. I’ve learned more about it since.
"Bruce Chatwin wrote a book called The Songlines – some people disagree with it now, it’s a bit controversial – but the romantic essence of it is that these were people who walked singing the songs of the landscape.
"In those songs they would talk about where it was safe to be, the stories of their ancestors, always being present and aware of exactly where they are.
"In some ways, that is what I am trying to do with these songs.
"I certainly feel when I visit these places now, those songs still resonate with me. I remember the songs I have now sung about these places."
Will Peter continue working on the project with new additions, now he has three completed including this latest collection of songs, Following The Water's Flow?
"I don’t know if I will keep doing this, but I’m still getting something out of this idea that the landscape and its environmental sound can be part of the music.
"I am going to do one song trying to get the audience to create the sound of the rain.
"I don’t think the song would work the same without that element
"I watched the Netflix show Chef’s Table this summer, with really high-end three Michelin star chefs.
"What resonated with me was – not all of them – but a lot of them are talking about location-specific tastes, the specific textures of that location
"I think in terms of musicians, we only have eight notes in western music in the scale, millions and millions of people have access to the same technology and the same sounds and I’m really interested in that idea of doing something unique and that feels hand-made in some ways – and specific. That idea, I think I am getting closer to that. I’ve not quite got it yet, but I am getting closer. "
The different sound of the water on each track – sometimes rain, or stones thrown into water, or the dipping into water and coming out again created by a canoe's paddles, becomes as much a unique part of each track as Peter's voice or instruments such as guitar and piano, and sometimes random-seeming gaps where you are listening intently for the next notes, or wonder 'Is this the end of the track?'.
Peter said: "You listen in a different way because the sound, the background sound as we consume it, is not just a background sound. It’s something that is part of the music, an intentional part that is not just there as an accident."
So will there be more music to come as Peter tries to get closer to his ideal of capturing the sounds of very specific locations and moments?
Peter said: "I had thought about places with people.
"Supermarkets, car park, places like that – I think it could be quite interesting.
"But I’d have to be careful how I do that. If people see me recording the sound, how would I explain it to people?" laughed Peter. "It might get quite complicated. I haven’t quite got what the next one might be, but I think there probably is another one.
"The idea to me of people in a landscape is interesting because it is another layer.
"In places there are almost waves and lulls, or the sound of people concentrating in a big group, and when they are not – you can hear that flux and flow. So there might be something in that."
Peter plans that the debut live performance on Saturday will be immersive – he wants the audience to take part in it too.
"I’m going to ask folks to use their mobile phone torches, to project the shadow of leaves on the roof of the tent and to use water bottles to create that feeling of being underwater.
“To be honest, it is a bit of an experiment, so I don’t know how it is going to go – but I’m excited to try!”
Hear Following The Water’s Flow on Spotify, Amazon music, iTunes and peternoble.bandcamp.com You can hear – and maybe join in – Peter's part of a bigger music event at The Field in Alness on Saturday from 1-1.45pm, as part of the Unexpected Garden strategy.
The overall project will bring the Dandelion Festival to the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness from Thursday to Saturday, September 2 to 4 with many different events including music from Del Amitri, Songhoy Blues, King Creosote and many other acts including local names. Full details: https://dandelion.scot/programme/festivals/
