Sule Skerry, by Hildaland

Sule Skerry

by Hildaland

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1.	Tune For Ellice 02:22	buy track
2.	The Silver Dollar 03:57	buy track
3.	Ettrick 03:32	buy track
4.	Coffee & Incense 03:15	buy track
5.	The Selkie of Sule Skerry 04:42	buy track
6.	Shetland Jigs 03:48	buy track
7.	Weezy & Vera 04:45	buy track
8.	Fall On My Knees 03:44	buy track
9.	Elk River Blues 03:14	buy track
10.	Everything Is Free 04:11	buy track
11.	Trains/Fin's 05:01	buy track

about

Scottish fiddler Louise Bichan and American mandolinist Ethan Setiawan have been making music together for years as part of four piece outfit “Corner House”. Now the two instrumentalists have taken the opportunity to see what a stripped down duo sound can manifest, in the form of a new project entitled “Hildaland”. On their debut album “Sule Skerry”, the pair focuses on remaking traditional music, with a focus on Bichan’s Scottish musical roots.

“Like Corner House, this project is still a fusion of many styles, but as a duo we focus more on the Scottish influences and traditional Celtic music. A pretty big part of Hildaland is taking traditional material and greatly reworking it into something new”, they explain.

Originally from the Orkney Islands of Scotland, Bichan met Setiawan during their time at Berklee College of Music in Boston MA. Setiawan grew up in Indiana, and has made a name for himself as a virtuosic mandolin player, winning The 2017 Rockygrass Mandolin Championship, and performing with the likes of Darrell Scott and Julian Lage. Bichan says, “Ethan always has really interesting musical ideas, and takes things in directions I wouldn’t think to go. He writes brilliant tunes, which are often challenging and push me out of my comfort zone, which I appreciate.” Bichan is an award winning fiddle player herself, who has appeared on the BBC and at the Edinburgh Castle and Cambridge Folk festival among many other places. “Louise has a beautiful sense of melody and harmony. She often comes up with ideas that seem perfect, and so totally not what I would have come up with. She plays with a lot of drive, and derives beautiful arcs of storytelling within a melody” explains Setiawan.

Sule Skerry is a collection of traditional tunes reworked, some original tunes, and a few songs, which ”act as accents to an instrumental piece of work.”, explains Bichan. Setiawan and Bichan both penned original tunes which appear on the collection. “Silver Dollar”, which was written by Bichan, is a bright and lovely moment, showing the duo performing completely in sync and with immense joy, unfolding from a unison melody to rhythmic accompaniment and then harmony. The tune was written for the occasion of Bichan’s aunt and uncle’s silver wedding anniversary.

Setiawan’s “Vera and Weezy”, written for a pair of dogs living in the apartment above the couple’s home, features the piano playing of Neil Pearlman, and moves Setiawan’s normally bluegrass/Old Time sound in the direction of Scottish fusion.

A stand out track on the album is a cover of GIllian Welch’s “Everything is Free Now”, sung by special guest Sadie Gustafson-Zook, a childhood friend of Setiawan’s, and a gifted singer-songwriter. The track highlights Hildaland’s ability to use their instruments and vocals as support rather than in center stage, and their deep sense of musicality, as the track is a shift away from the instrumental focus of the album.

Setiawan recorded and mixed the record in their home, and the pair self-produced the album. The result is music that feels entirely genuine, an exploration of possibilities in an intimate setting between two brilliant musicians. “Musical communication is pretty effortless at this point, which wasn’t always the case.” explains Bichan. “When we’re playing a melody in unison I love to get it to lock in and sit just right. Ethan will often create chords for a melody that I wrote. With this record and making production decisions we had to make a lot of calls on our own, without bandmates or producers, which was great.”

credits

released November 3, 2023

Louise Bichan: fiddle, vocals, octave mandolin (track 10)
Ethan Setiawan: mandolin, octave mandolin, mandola, electric octave 5 string tenor guitar, guitar, vocals

with

Dan Klingsberg: double bass (track 5)
Sadie Gustafson-Zook: vocals, guitar (track 10)
Neil Pearlman: keyboard (tracks 7, 11)
Sam Kassirer: synth (track 5)

Engineered and mixed by Ethan Setiawan
Mastered by Peter Atkinson
Manufactured by Atomic Disc
Photography, artwork and layout by Louise Bichan

All tracks arranged by Louise Bichan and Ethan Setiawan, with Neil Pearlman (tracks 7, 11) and Sadie Gustafson-Zook (track 10)

Thank you to Dan, Sadie, Neil, Sam, and Peter for lending us their creativity and musicianship on this project. Joe Brent and Adhyâropa Records for taking this on and believing in creative music. A huge thank you to Chuck Honnet of Nine Athens Music for his generous support. Thank you to Alex Steed and Carolyn Kendrick, who we are incredibly grateful to (and for!) Thank you to our ever-supportive and wonderful families.

license

about

Hildaland Maine

Orkney (Scotland) born fiddler Louise Bichan and Indiana (USA) mandolinist Ethan Setiawan present a collaboration and meeting of their musical worlds. A path steeped in the fiddle traditions of their respective sides of the Atlantic, the journey taken wends through Scottish, oldtime, and Swedish inspired music woven with contemporary compositions. ... more

shows

Apr 28

Treewild House Concerts

Burlington, VT

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