New sangs fae Quinie! No lang syne musician an sangster Josie Vallely – better kent as Quinie – wis awairdit siller fae the Lottery bi gait o Scotland Makkin’s (Creative Scotland) Open Fund, for tae dae twa weeks o speirin in aboot the landscape o Kilmertin, Argyll, fae on horseback, takkin the swatch o the land an its life. Her skeel o this land will gae taewards the makkin o a split-new album o contemporar Scots sang cryed Forefowk, mind me, that will be pit thegither alang wi musicians Ailbhe Oireachtaigh, Oliver Pitt, Stevie Jones, an Harry Gorski-Brown. Quinie is ettlin tae mak fowk mair ware o baith the Scots leid an the lifes o the Traiveling fowk forby, an she looks forrit tae wirkin wi aw the sindry fowk that gaes in tae makkin an album come aboot. (Not sure how to pronounce this? Listen to this text here )
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Forefowk, Mind Me is a conversation between traditions: voice and pipes, accompanied and unaccompanied, DIY and folk. It features a mix of traditional songs, reinterpretations, and original arrangements drawn from Scots, Gaelic, and Irish traditions, alongside toasts, improvisations, and poetic settings. “The name of the record Forefowk, Mind Me plays with the idea of elders or ancestors in a Scottish context. In Scots, when we say ‘mind me,’ we might mean ‘remind me,’ ‘remember me,’ ‘watch me,’ or ‘care for me.’ Our rich tradition, and the traditions of Scottish Gypsy Travellers and other indigenous groups in Scotland, need to be constantly reconnected with, built upon, looked after, and shared. My hope for this music is that it will be a stone added to the cairn of Scots song tradition—layered onto the past and soon to be overlaid by whatever comes next. It is an expression of my sense of self and a celebration of the things I find beautiful and interesting.” Quinie’s main muse is Scots Traveller Singer Lizzie Higgins, who was heavily influenced by the piping tradition. Many of the tracks use uilleann pipe melodies as their architecture. The voice is used as a pipe-like element, at times taking on the role of a harmonic, at others as call-and-response canntaireachd (pipe melody sung using vocables). The album focuses on worlds of ideas and playful collaboration. The album’s vinyl release is accompanied by a book and film, documenting the research process behind the music. These were produced with support of Creative Scotland. They document Quinie’s research approach, and a development residency she completed which involved walking across Argyll with her horse Maisie, accompanied by filmmaker Lizzie MacKenzie. The short film gives an insight into her process and how she explores the interdependent relationships between people, ancestors, animals, and place. Quinie’s previous albums were released by Glasgow’s ubiquitous DIY label GLARC, emerging from the rich and radical traditions of the city's experimental music scene. Forefowk, Mind Me continues to blur the boundaries between disciplines aesthetically and in method—one that embraces flattened hierarchies and agency. “There are strong parallels between the DIY music scene and the folk tradition in Scotland,” says Quinie. “In both, we organize our own entertainment, we make music for each other, we explore what we find interesting. We learn from each other and build community, and we are not afraid to make a shonky-looking tape or CD. The difference is perhaps in intent and method—I take the ‘do what you like’ attitude of DIY and combine it with the ‘cherish what has come before’ values of the folk tradition. I see them as complementary rather than contradictory.” Quinie began singing unaccompanied Scots song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart (1937–2014) celebrated on BBC Radio Scotland. Since then, she has immersed herself in the Scots song tradition, learning from archival recordings, oral transmission, and contemporary folk practice. Forefowk, Mind Me is the result of research into place, language, sense of self and tradition. Like all her work, it is rooted in the songs and poetry of women who came before her—most notably, Lizzie Higgins (1929–93) and Marion Angus (1865–1946). |
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Recording the album
Forefowk, Mind Me was developed over several years and recorded in August 2024 at The Big Shed, Tombreck, with support from Creative Scotland. Quinie is accompanied by a eclectic ensemble of musicians: Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh (viola), Oliver Pitt (duduk, bouzouki, percussion), Harry Górski-Brown (small pipes, violin), and Stevie Jones (double bass, recording, and mixing). Each of these artists brings their own distinctive voice, bridging contemporary experimental practice with worlds of traditional and early music. Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh is a viola player whose work explores the tonal possibilities of gut strings and wood in both amplified and acoustic contexts. Her music blends influences from improvised, traditional, and early music. A frequent collaborator, she has performed with Woven Skull, Cian Nugent & the Cosmos, Josephine Foster, and Circuit des Yeux. She is a member of free-improv quartet Dome Riders. Harry Górski-Brown is a multi-instrumentalist and composer working at the intersection of electroacoustic and traditional music. Trained in violin performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, he has since gravitated toward experimental composition, combining small pipes, strings, and electronics in innovative ways. His recent release, Durt Dronemaker After Dreamboats (GLARC, 2024), reimagines Scottish Gaelic song through immersive sonic landscapes. Oliver Pitt is a musician and visual artist embedded in Glasgow’s DIY scene. He is known for his experimental and genre-blurring acts hardcore-deconstructinist-thrash act Ultimate Thrush, 'more-is-more' house ensemble Dick 50 and peripetic party band Golden Teacher. He runs a non-profit record label Akashic Records. On Forefowk, Mind Me, Pitt plays duduk, bouzouki, and percussion. His interests in early music, composition and playful methods have had a lot of influence on Quinie’s approach. Stevie Jones plays double bass on and recorded and produced the record. A longtime fixture in Scottish music, Stevie plays with Arab Strap, RM Hubbert, and numerous improvisers and folk musicians. Under his Sound of Yell moniker, Jones creates acoustic compositions that weave together folk, jazz, and psychedelia, as heard on Brocken Spectre (2014). 
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