New Single!
Did You See the Light
(Shining Down on Me)?

Out on the Summer Solstice 21st June!

A joyous and excited reaction to the Aurora borealis (northern lights) being so strong they were over to the south of the sky and also right above me/us and shining down.
It always feels like a dream, when you wake up in the morning afterwards, as if you imagined it. Then the enthusiasm of the night before kicks back in, especially when sharing it with others.
The song popped out of that emotion, written on keyboards and with immediacy, as a mantra.
I then listened to it a few months later and thought “wow! I’m releasing that for the Summer Solstice!”
I’ve made it free to download from website player below. xx

"Coastal Meditations from Aberdeenshire" Zakia DreamtIme on BBC6 Music.

Andrew Michael Clucas's 'Forvie Lullabies' is a suite of lullabies about life in coastal Aberdeenshire, backing onto the sands of Forvie.

Part 1 is available to free download (click Zip files link) and play from above player or if you like bandcamp you can also download for free (see link above). It's on all other online streaming platforms.

Please feel free to play the accompanying youtube bundle of short films, which has been embedded on this page above.

Links above.

Background;

It started with an idea, to create a suite of lullabies. I couldn’t quite nail what the theme of the album would be, until one day.............. I was in my garden, which backs onto the sands of Forvie and I knew any day the pink footed geese would be arriving back for the winter, which would be the moment summer turns to autumn, and a melody jumped into my head. I rushed into the house and wrote it down. 2 days later, I was walking around the back of Forvie and the geese arrived and I recorded them there and then. That was the first track 'As summer turns to Autumn- part 1'. Part 2 swiftly followed, as did about 16 other melodies, all relating to an emotion summoned up by an event or place relating to my life here, at Forvie and Collieston village.

'Forvie Lullabies' was born. All 18 tracks may be some time in making, so Part 1 is being released first!

The history of Forvie (the village and it's farm land disappeared under a fierce sand storm 700 years ago) fascinates me, but in essence I just wanted to capture the emotions of living 'hear' in tunes and have therefore added some field music to enhance the experience!.

I’ve tried to make the arrangements fit the topic; For example, the awkward but amazingly beautiful way pink footed geese land was reflected in the way the melodica was played in a tumbling manner and in a waltz timing.

I also wanted this suite of songs to sound natural, so I avoided the cliques of ambient music (choirs, synths etc). To achieve this I set myself one of those ridiculously unnecessary challenges (but it seemed like a good idea, at the time) to only use; my voice, 3 strings of a classical guitar (yes only 3!?), a melodica and strings, with the hope that would be acoustically pleasing. I played all the instruments myself except the double bass on As summer turns to Autumn, by the amazing Roberto Cassani and I also broke the rules occasionally (I devilishly used an auto harp!) xx.

I have tried to work with the natural environment and seasons and importantly recognise and celebrate them.

Production (for those into that) has been kept very simple, little of the volume up's and down's, I much prefer listening in silence or in a car, where the volume of music drifts to reflect the song arrangement.

Thanks for popping by. This is dedicated to my late father Michael Clucas. xx