The Background

Our planet houses over 8 billion humans at the moment, and we move around an awful lot. Migration is not new. It's been going on for millennia. The reasons may be geological, climate based, oppressive, work related or voluntary. This album focuses on one small aspect of migration, the eviction and subsequent migration of farmers and crofters from the Scottish highlands during the Clearances.

The Album Internationally renowned harp and electronica duo FitkinWall follow threads of migration, loss and longing in their new album Uist. Composer Graham Fitkin has produced new work based on old Gaelic songs and Highland tunes. Scottish harpist Ruth Wall performs on concert, electro and wire-strung harps with Fitkin conjuring up mesmerising soundworlds with electronics, samples and loops. Ruth and Graham combine the very old with the very new placing ancient instruments in unusual contexts.

The Music The music is constructed with care, precision and space to breathe - eery melodic fragments, pulsating patterns, sumptuous harmonies - drawn together in a beguiling but understated synthesis. Allusions can be drawn to new-classical, folk, even ambient and systems music, with hints of artists such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Lau or Haushka somewhere in the ether.

FitkinWall

Ruth Wall performs on wildly different harps - Gaelic wire-strung, Bray, Concert and Electro harps. Graham Fitkin uses a Moog Voyager, Ableton and various FX modules. Their work combines the very old with the very new. They provide unusual contexts for these ancient instruments. Their previous albums Still Warm and Lost, toured with live VJ, through the UK and Europe, before heading out to Japan. Uist has toured in the UK in 2024 and will tour mainland Europe in 2025 with a light installation from artist Peter Freeman.

Both artists work independently too. Ruth has worked with Goldfrapp, Kathryn Tickell, RLPO, BBC Orchestras and film composers John Lunn and Clint Mansell. She tours extensively in venues from Radio City New York and Glastonbury Mainstage to Sydney Opera House and Roskilde Fest. Graham's music has been performed by artists such as Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, New York City Ballet, BBC Philharmonic, Yo-Yo Ma, Will Gregory, choreographer Wayne McGregor and artist Shezad Dawood. His music has been released by Decca, Sony, BIS, Naxos and many others. He has won three BASCA Composer Awards, an International Grand Prix Dance Music Award and the Royal Philharmonic Society Composer Award