Spotlight On... Siobhan Wilson

Following the release of her gorgeous double album – Recording Of Myself In A Room Of My Own, a collection of acoustic folk songs, and the instrumental Seeing With Nature In Music – we shine a spotlight on multi-hyphenate talent (see: singer, songwriter, cellist, guitarist, producer, composer, artist, etc, etc) Siobhan Wilson to find out more.

I’m not sure if you know this about me, but I used to do archery at quite a competitive level in my youth. How come one of your press shots features you drawing the string of a bow? Is there a connection to the music?
Inspiration for this shoot was taken from track six from Recording Of Myself In A Room Of My Own, CD1. Called Unst Boat Song, this was a really interesting one to work with for me, as it's Scotland's oldest surviving Norse sea prayer, featuring a mixture of Norn and Shetland dialect. I was inspired by the cinematic imagery the song evoked, in particular the meaning of the words. For example, 'obadeea' meaning 'curse the weather', inspired my arrangement of the more dramatic section featuring cello arpeggios and vocals in close intervals. And the general sense in the text of worry for the fishermen to return safely; a job that could be a very dangerous pursuit depending on weather conditions drove me to consider very carefully who the people might have been who may have written and sung this song.

When I recorded Unst Boat Song, I imagined in my arrangement of the song that it would be sung by a woman, or group of women, at home praying fiercely to the 'Gods' for the weather to ensure the safe return of their fishermen family and friends. These women in history, I imagined to be on the shores of the island of Unst – the most northern point of the UK in Shetland – occupied my thoughts when I was composing and recording, and therefore also in the photo, where I sought to imagine myself as a woman who belongs to a historic time before the one we live in now.

It's a playful roleplay with bow and arrow on the shore, looking out to the seas. As Craig R MacIntosh was taking these photos, I was thinking about how much Viking Scandinavian DNA there is in Scotland, the impact that Scandinavian culture has had on our country, and whether they prayed, or what music they might have made. [I thought about] all the people through time who might have walked along the shore before me, how long the shore may have been there, and how many people have in the past, and continue today, to fiercely pray to the skies for the return of their loved ones.

Image: Siobhan Wilson by Craig R McIntosh

You’re just about to release a beautiful double album, with the two records having very different feelings from one another. Can you tell us about some of the other inspirations behind these two records? What made you want to release them together?
The decision to release a double album with a combined total of 25 tracks was to be as generous as possible to listeners of my music. I feel strongly that I should try to do everything I can to put a lot of thought and consideration into the best album I can for whomever may end up buying it. Based on the facilities available to me, collaborators involved, environments I record in, this record could never come out sounding the same twice. I like to make a strict plan, and then allow myself to go with the flow as much as possible, and CD2 – Seeing With Music In Nature – was not planned, but was written naturally alongside the songs.

I consulted with my Patreon fanspace before making a final decision! My fanspace has enabled the possibility of having a truly indie career. Both albums on CD1 and CD2 express my increased connection to nature and a sense of belonging to the world, in different ways. It's something I've worked hard to achieve. CD1, Recording Of Myself In A Room Of My Own, is a collection of songs, whereas CD2, Seeing With Music In Nature, is instrumental. 

On Recording Of Myself In A Room Of My Own, you collaborate with a few other musicians – how did these collaborations with Clementine March and Kathryn Williams come about? What was it like working with these other musicians as someone so fiercely independent?
I was extremely lucky to work with two women who were enthusiastic about collaborating on songs using only Zoom and WhatsApp! As a mostly introverted person who can occasionally be very shy, I'm in some ways more generous with ideas when collaborating at the distance of a screen, and sometimes not. I've enjoyed spending my time in the countryside these last few years, and have travelled only very rarely for either concerts or meetings or songwriting research, which can't be carried out over Zoom. I was therefore grateful during these writing occasions to have my own space to compose, while also being able to collaborate at a very profound level.

I learned a lot about myself in this process. In both of these instances, these two writers have brilliant minds and we share a mindset of writing "for the sake of writing" and both Kathryn and Clementine wrote fluently with me. It went by very quickly, you could say with a spark! We were not occupied with thoughts of the songs being "commercially successful", we truly wrote from the heart. You need to trust somebody to be able to do this and I loved the results.

I thrive from sharing ideas, but I also need my own space to recover from idea sharing, to spend time alone, engineering and piecing together the final song in the bigger landscape of the final album. It's a little strange in some ways to think such deep connections can be made digitally without travelling, but it's also beautiful! Lockdown was tough in general, but these digital writing collaborations started to become normal to me. In particular, another good example of this was that I equally absolutely loved collaborating with the composer Takeshi Furukawa on the song Horizons for the brand new videogame Planet of Lana (released 23 May by Wishfully on Xbox and Steam).

Image: Siobhan Wilson and McTavish by Craig R McIntosh

You’re putting this whole double album out yourself, and have even been hand-painting the CD cases yourself, which I love. What was the reason for being so DIY with the process for this release?
I've experimented with eco-friendly products and materials in recent releases like Plastic Grave, but it's really symbolic of my life and artistic process more than ever over the last few years, that this double album is completely homemade. I spent a lot of time at home in my new home studio with my dog McTavish, and in the countryside immediately surrounding my home, really focusing on "belonging" to my surroundings.

I was compelled to hand-paint each cover in a limited edition format to be as generous as possible to the person buying the CD. I wanted this to make the person buying the double CD really smile, to see how much thought has been put into it. I individually hand-painted a moving wheat/flower scene in yellow onto a recycled gatefold album. There's also a hand-drawn and handwritten lyrics sheet design inside and also setlists with an illustration which was printed locally.

It's really important for me that the person receiving the physical version of my double album can feel and see how much thought I have put into my process, because they will own this at the end of the day. I actually found it really difficult to part with some of the hand-painted albums and felt a bit nostalgic when posting them out! I think about the album as a whole, from the idea stage of themes for the lyrics right up until the hand-painting of the cover or the recycled bright pink envelopes used for sending them.

Finally, what does the rest of the year have in store for you, what’s next?
I'm releasing videos throughout June on my social media that go with the songs on the double album! Please follow me on my social media channels to watch out for them. On 15 June I'm playing in Mackintosh Church in Glasgow! Two very wonderful ladies who know how to shred will feature on my show that night: Juliette Lemoine and Zoë Bestel! This will be a very special moment. In August I'm playing at MugStock music festival, and I'm scoring my first-ever short film!

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Recording Of Myself In A Room Of My Own and Seeing With Music In Nature are out now on Suffering Fools Records; Siobhan Wilson plays Mackintosh Church, Glasgow, 15 Jun; MugStock Festival, Strathallan Castle, 4-7 Aug; Planet of Lana is out now via Wishfully, available to play on Xbox, PC and Steam.

siobhan-wilson.com
sufferingfoolsrecords.bandcamp.com