Dublin producer Strands, aka Stephen Shannon, is building up to the release of his new album Inner Spaces – out on November 15th via Remote Town, , and ahead of it we’re delighted to be able to premiere the new video for the track ‘Sugarloaf’ right here on Backseat Mafia today.
The album see Shannon dusting off his vintage synths and take in the listener on a journey around fevourite trails and beauty spots of county Wicklow. He says of the album “I grew up in a small village in Co. Wicklow, Ireland between the mountains and the sea. I spent my summers taking long hikes through fields, forests and along coastlines, listening to music on my Walkman. Last year, with travel restrictions in place, I compiled a list of all of the places in Wicklow I really wanted to revisit. I began making a piece of music for each location, visualising these spaces. Each track is about a space remembered in Wicklow (known as the garden of Ireland); all my past journeys there and how it felt to return to these places post-lockdown”.
Of the track, he told us here at Backseat Mafia “Sugarloaf is my favourite mountain in Wicklow. On a clear day, you can see Wales from up there. This song mimics a walk up Sugarloaf that starts gently, moving upwards like the ascent up a path before finally reaching the top and looking out over the view. The wind sound during the breakdown of the song (3:12) was recorded at the peak of Sugarloaf”.
It’s a beautifully shot video of Sugarloaf, its nature and fauna represented along with its stunning views, but its the music that takes centre stage, this quietly building, bubbling soundscape that seems to fit both the mood and the place perfectly. It swells and swoons, choppy synths sounds and calming chords weaving in and out of eachother to sublime effect.
Check it out, here
About Strands
Strands is the solo moniker of Stephen Shannon, a composer and music producer based in Dublin, Ireland, who has recorded and released original music as a member of Halfset, Strands and the duo Mount Alaska (251 Records).
As Mount Alaska, Steve has composed music for the TV series Normal People (BBC/ Hulu) and remixed artists such as Arcade (Epic), Froth (Wichita Recordings) and Atli Örvarsson (Inni Music).
He has composed original live scores for George A Romero zombie classic ‘Night Of The Living Dead’, ‘Der Golem’, Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ (1927).
Inner Spaces is released on Remote Town, November 15
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