News

Friday August 26th has been set as the release date for our third album – ‘Soul Making‘ – which will be available on all major streaming and download sites from that date.

You can read more about ‘Soul Making‘ and listen to previews of the songs here.

Further news items will be posted as the release date approaches!

It has been a while now since we reported that Anam Danu was working on a new collection of material.  We are delighted to announce that our third album, ‘Soul Making’, will be released shortly.  This new collection comprises 10 brand new songs that have been written and recorded over the past year and half.  We are now entering the final stages of the release process, and you will soon be able to find ‘Soul Making’ on any of these sites:

Stay tuned for further information on the release date. If you would like us to notify you when it is available, please enter your email address in the box at the bottom of our contact page.

Last year we were quite delighted to discover a method of working remotely that enabled us to record “Winter Blue and Evergreen” whilst safely ensconced in our own studios.  We were extremely happy that we got to make an album safely in the midst of a pandemic using the internet as a recording tool.

The use of on-line recording tools is a benefit previous generations did not have access to, but is far from being perfect in comparison to working face-to-face.  The really good news is that as a result of recent relaxations in restrictions – largely thanks to the Canadian vaccination program – this week we were finally able to start working together again in the studio for the first time in a year and a half.

We are already well on our way to creating a new collection of material and have begun recording it in earnest.  We are excited to begin working on our third album and feel a good sized “Hoorah” is in order!

Now – should you like to be kept in the loop with regard to the release of new material, enter your email address in the box at the bottom of our contact page and you will be kept informed of the latest developments.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have listened to – have downloaded – or have even purchased (the old fashioned way) our release of earlier this year – “Winter Blue and Evergreen”.

We are also most grateful to those who have let us know what they think of the music. We have received many kind compliments and thoughtful responses, which certainly makes our efforts feel well worthwhile.

Thank you…

Lest you think that we might be sitting back and indulging in a creative vacation (in lieu of the more conventional kind currently unavailable) please be assured that we are buzzing away in the hive. We have been writing and preparing new material. Since Christmas we have been working on a number of new tracks and will shortly have finished the composition and arrangement of seven new songs.

We are also preparing for the most important element of the process; the recording of Siobhan’s vocals. We would dearly love to be able to record face to face again rather than having to do so across the Internet. These later stages of the pandemic might just prove to be the most frustrating of all, until we have a clearer picture of how things will pan out.

Do please keep watching this space for further information regarding the availability of our new creations.

For those for whom streaming or downloading are not their preferred method of accessing music – or for those who just prefer something physical that can be kept – “Winter Blue and Evergreen” is available on CD.

I’m afraid that we do not currently have a mechanism on the website for ordering it in this form, but should you drop me a line from the Contacts page I will happily furnish you with a copy.

“Winter Blue and Evergreen” is now available for streaming, download and purchase from the major digital music distribution site such as Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Apple Music, iTunes and Bandcamp. You can find full details and appropriate links to download sites here.

We hope that you will enjoy our music and that – should you do so – you kindly recommend it to others.

Thank you so much…

“Album covers are like any other vehicle, they are a means of illustrating a story”.

Peter Blake

The fabulous cover for our new CD – “Winter Blue and Evergreen” (which will be out very soon now) was created for us by Toronto-based musician and artist – Martin Springett.

That we ended up with such an excellent and fitting cover is entirely down to Siobhan. She describes how it came about:

“How I was connected with Martin is through a friend and work colleague of my husband’s named Joan Steacy. Joan is an award-winning graphic novelist and instructor at Camosun College’s Comic and Graphic Arts program. Joan was over one day and I had her listen to a track from the new ‘Anam Danu’ album. She said the music reminded her of her friend Martin’s music, and then she explained that he was also fabulous graphic artist who had done album covers for his band, and other bands, as well as being a children’s book illustrator“.

Siobhan investigated Martin’s website and found that the style of his artwork fitted with thoughts that she already had in mind for the CD cover design. Joan put her in touch with Martin – she called him and introduced us and asked if he might be prepared to take on a commission for us. Having listened to some of the tracks from our 2019 release – “Winds of Change” – Martin most kindly and generously agreed to take on the project.

Martin and Siobhan engaged in an email exchange to determine the elements that the cover should include. Martin sent her examples of previous works in similar styles to those they were discussing and Siobhan sent him images of Celtic designs that she had sourced.

Common ground having been agreed upon, Martin quickly came up with some initial ideas as to the form that the cover might take. These lovely drawings show how it rapidly evolved. (Note that we had clearly at that point not settled on a final title for the album!).

Martin wrote of making the figure “more lively“; of creating “a big gesture that would flow across the square shape“. This is what he came up with:

We loved it and immediately gave it the thumbs up. We loved the flow and movement of the Goddess herself – we loved the elements of the circle of life that had been incorporated and we loved the way that Martin had pulled into the image ideas and themes that we had addressed in the songs on the album.

We were naturally most eager to see the finished artwork and Martin was generous enough to keep us informed throughout the process. Watching the eventual artwork slowly emerge was a fascinating and valuable lesson.

From the draft Martin drew the final outline of cover in a larger form:

He then started to fill in the detailed shading – still working only in monochrome:

…until the final form was complete:

The image was then digitised and coloured on the computer. Doing so has the significant advantage that different colour values can be tried before the final version is settled upon. Martin also added the titling and borders to turn the wonderful image of the Goddess into a CD cover.

At this point the artwork was sent to us – in digital form – so that we could submit it to our chosen Digital Music distributor and also to work it up into a cover for physical CDs:

Martin is in a position to be able to choose from whom he accepts commissions and we are greatly honoured that agreed to design and create this album artwork for us. Do check out Martin’s splendid website – as well as that of his band – The Gardening Club.

Our new album – ‘Winter Blue and Evergreen’ – is finished!

The tracks have been mastered – courtesy of the estimable Brock MacFarlane at CPS Mastering in Vancouver – and submitted to our Digital Music Distributor of choice. It is going to take around three to four weeks to process – and with Christmas fast upon us there may yet be a little further delay – but the results will then be available from all the usual digital outlets.

We will post further news here as soon as we know the firm release dates.

Do have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy Hogmany.