With my NaNoWriMo project, my 30 Days of Kink, my daily WordPress prompts and the increasing stack of comments and emails I want to reply to, I seem to spend every waking minute of my life writing.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I love writing, but sometimes it’s important to take a step back to save ourselves from burning out.
Thus, here is the second installment of my (occasional) series celebrating music that is most definitely not mainstream. The artist I am highlighting today is one of my favourite instrumentalists of all time, the incredible Paul Mounsey.
My introduction to Paul Mounsey came from when I happened upon a copy of his album Nahoo in the Carton branch of Readings way back in 2003. It was a case of love at first listen, and in the nine years since, the four albums I have of his (Nahoo, NahooToo, Nahoo 3: Notes from the Republic and City of Walls) have become some of my most listened to albums of all time.
They have inspired my fiction, my soul and become a major component on the soundtrack of my life. Blending Scottish and South American rhythms Mounsey’s music tells the story of Scotland more than any other artist I’ve come across.
I love his music unconditionally, and hopefully, you will too.
Paul Mounsey (born 15 April 1959) is a composer, arranger and producer from Scotland.
He lived for over 20 years in Brazil. A graduate of Trinity College, London, where he studied with Richard Arnell, he has written for film, television, theatre, advertising and also for the Latin American pop market. He lectured for a short while at Goldsmiths College before moving on as creative director of Play It Again, one of the biggest commercial music houses in Brazil. He has also written articles on various aspects of music. He’s written pop hits for Mexican boy bands, has received commissions for chamber and multimedia works, has lived with and recorded the music of indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest, and to date has released five solo albums.
[from Wikipedia]
Nahoo Nation
I once wrote a script for a silent short film with this piece of music as the inspiration. One of my favourite of Mounsey’s tracks.
North
This was used as the theme for a series of adverts from Tourism Scotland to promote this breathtaking country. The perfect choice. I have noticed some people have issues with the introduction of a rock element halfway through the track. Personally, this is what elevates the track from wonderful to something special.
Gad Ionndrainn
One of the most beautiful and haunting pieces of music I’ve ever heard.
Runrig with Paul Mounsey
In 2003 the Scottish group Runrig invited Paul Mounsey to arrange some of the tracks on their twelfth studio album, Proterra – and in so doing, nearly caused this Runrig/Mounsey uber-fan to die an over excited death in the reception area of a backpacker hostel (the first place I listened to this magnificent album!)
Proterra
The Old Boys
Other entries in this (occasional) series:
All that I am, all that I ever was... 