Price: £11.99
Format: CD
Artist: I'Anson
CatNo: MAKER002
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In Chances of Light IAnson CD

 

In Chances Of Light is the debut album from I'Anson.
 
Packed with personal memories, evoking one man's relationship with a wild and immutable landscape, and written and produced on the magical island of Jura in Scotland, it features Hugh Carswell with percussionist Steve Jansen, jazz bassist Dudley Phillips and the Scottish Ensemble (among others).  
 
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Cutting loose from the bustle of London life, Hugh Carswell left the city behind in 2006, relocating to the magical island of Jura off the west coast of Scotland. Hugh already had a strong personal connection with the island, it being the home to five generations on his father's side. Jura's beautiful yet bleak landscape and unique community inspired him to create the stunning music featured on In Chances Of Light.
 
Carswell prefers to work under the name I'Anson - taken from his grandfather, the writer Hugh I'Anson Fausset.
 
Hugh first began writing In Chances Of Light whilst rebuilding the stone cottage rented by his family since the 1930s and which he had visited for holidays every year since he was born. The opening track of the album Your Halo recalls the childhood innocence of those summers and the continual presence of the island in his conscience.
 
A sense of simplicity permeates the whole album, reflecting on the adjustment from city life that the distant island offered Carswell. The listener is invited to share in the escape to more elemental surroundings.
 
"I always knew that Jura was the perfect place to write an 'honest' kind of record. When I moved here and began to think about making In Chances Of Light, the setting was almost perfect - I just had to renovate my family's ancient cottage and install a few basics like water and electricity! I spent two years practically single-handedly rebuilding and extending the old house and, at the same time, found endless inspiration in the wilderness of the land around me, the simple life, and warmth of the small local community. Once the building was finished I was able to fully return my attention to the main reason I moved to Jura in the first place - writing and recording the music."
 
I'Anson's In Chances Of Light is not the only work of art inspired by the island of Jura - George Orwell wrote his defining novel 1984 in Jura (sounds from Barnhill, the farmhouse in which he lived and worked, are featured on the album). In 1994, the KLF famously burnt £1 million in cash and recorded the event for the now iconic film 'Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid'. The uncompromising remoteness and stark beauty of Jura contributing to these creative processes, providing a wild and inspiring backdrop.
 
In Chances Of Light unites broad resonances, from the piano refrains of Ludovico Einaudi to the songwriting of Damien Rice, via the sound-world of Sigur Ros, to create an unmistakably beautiful sound which reflects the extra-ordinary location in which it was written and recorded.
 
The album is presented in a high quality six panel, matt finish digipack, including a twenty page booklet.

 

1. Your Halo (4:35)
2. Fire Mercy Be (4:16)
3. Summer of My Soul (3:33)
4. Take Hold (4:51)
5. How Strongly I Felt (4:46)
6. The Light Keeper (5:24)
7. Golden (7:17)
8. Fruit Tree (5:49)
9. A Tide (4:09)
10. Evermore (2:37)
11. Spring Will Come (5:31)

 

Main artist credits:
 
Hugh Carswell - voice, guitars, piano, mandolin
Dudley Phillips - double bass, electric bass
Steve Jansen - drums & percussion
Scottish Ensemble - strings
 

Recording locations: Scotland - The Cottage, Isle of Jura; Caird Hall, Dundee US - Samadhi Sound Studios, New Hampshire England - Air Edel, London; The Bunker, Welwyn Garden City. Interwoven into the soundscape of In Chances of Light are numerous field recordings from the Isle of Jura itself. Mastered by Tony Cousins at Metropolis, London