Lawn Crypt, by Rylan Gleave

Lawn Crypt

by Rylan Gleave

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elsiemaydunn Haunting and beautiful, with an abiding sense of melancholia without menace, this is a contemporary air inspired from a place ancient in location and spirit. The music is at times reminiscent of Karl Jenkins, at others of Lamb, but is fresh and original while simultaneously honouring the historic. A very fine thing.

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1.	Woo'd 03:52	lyrics	buy track
‘Woo’d an married, an a’ Kissed, an carried awa And is no the bride weel aff The bride that’s woo’d an married?’ From “The Bride Came Out of the Byre”, written by “a young probationer of the Church of Scotland” about 1826/ 27.
2.	Interlude 00:33		buy track
3.	Cradlesong 04:39	lyrics	buy track
Overlooking the Moray Firth St. Benet’s chapel, in the ruins… Along with his accompanying holy well Near the chapel itself There was a stone trough For virtues derived also by the Saint Like those of the well If a baby had been replaced Carried away… One only had to lay the changeling In the trough And Oberon himself would By some invisible process Restore the child Overlooking the Moray Firth…
4.	I know who killed me 03:21	lyrics	buy track
As dawn broke o’er the day, I made my way to Navity Wood, Two gentlemen, aghast the sight of me, A spectre where I thought I stood. No single wave dashed over the black rock, No gulls with hungry blood cries; My bones scattered, like seaware on the shore Ere the fall of the tide, in the morning. I knew them both by name, And called out in a voice full-clear, “Good sirs, I know who killed me,” My breath lost, sightless, to the air. No single wave dashed over the black rock, No gulls with hungry blood cries; My bones scattered, like seaware on the shore Ere the fall of the tide, in the morning. “Good sirs, I know who killed me,” A spectre whispered to the air.
5.	Black gold / dust 04:26		buy track
6.	What used to stand here 05:20	lyrics	buy track
The evening is cloudless and bright Covered in bushes of hazel and birch Roughed by thickets of juniper Red tumblings of streams I wonder where this fragment of the old world Could have lain for the last century Rallied on his love adventures And poetry I will meet you there, old friend My heart an affectionate one To lay down the daisies at your side To lay down the daisies

about

Written in Nov 2021, Cromarty, and live set recorded at The Stables.

“…perched like an eyry on a steep, solitary ridge, overlooking the Moray Firth…” Hugh Miller, Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland, 1935

Lawn Crypt, as a title, came about after spending hours in the crypt in St. Regulus’ graveyard. Sometimes known as The Pirate’s Graveyard, due to all the skull and crossbones engravings on graves, ‘memento mori’ became a phrase I’d read often. There was a calmness to all of the churches and graveyards, but especially the crypt. I dragged Rory with me on a few dark nights to record, closing my eyes in the pitch blackness, to see if the fear would be audible in my voice. The crypt was under a grassy raised bump, with no trace of the private chapel that used to stand there, and a grate in the ground for light. The odd balance of peaceful and terrifying underpinned much of the work that I made, and tied in with exploring the writings of Hugh Miller. I’d been spending my time playing the harmonium in the freezing East Church, and started reading spooky excerpts of Scenes and Legends whilst trying to warm up in my breaks. Stories about violent storms, spectres, and blue-peaked hills seeped into the recordings that I took there, the resonance of the building creating ghostly wailing behind the out-of-tune reeds.

credits

released January 6, 2022

voice, piano, clarsach, harmonium, organ - Rylan Gleave
field recordings and tech - Rory Green
additional voice - Virginia Radcliffe
live gig recording and film - Dave Newman
mastering - Scott McLean

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Rylan Gleave Edinburgh, UK

composer | vocalist

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