The platitude that necessity is the mother of invention has certainly become a truism for numerous musicians during the pandemic. While many bands have been forced by self-isolation restrictions to post videos of Zoom performances, solo artists have at least enjoyed the luxury of playing actual shows, albeit mostly without an audience.
Sarah McQuaid’s sixth solo album consists of a concert set containing fifteen songs spanning her 24-year career. McQuaid was born in Madrid (to a Spanish father and an American mother) and raised in Chicago. She lived in Ireland for 13 years before moving to her current home in rural West Cornwall in 2007.
The tunes were played as if performing a live concert in an empty medieval church near where she lives. The performance, funded by a crowdfunding campaign, was produced by Martin Stansbury, making use of strategically placed ambient microphones throughout the church. On these tunes McQuaid switches between acoustic guitar, piano, electric guitar and floor tom drum.
The opening track, Sweetness and Pain, is performed a cappella demonstrating the unique ambience and reverb on the space. The acoustics are also heard to stunning effect on In Derby Cathedral where, half way through, vocals are looped via a delay pedal to repeat her lines and she ends without the guitar accompaniment to become a one woman chorus.
Two previously unrecorded covers feature on the album. The first is a delughtful rendering of the classic jazz standard Autumn Leaves. The other is a cover of Michael Chapman’s Rabbit Hills which was commissioned by Chapman’s wife Andru as a gift for his 80th birthday. Chapman was a close friend, and musical mentor of McQuaid’s and this song is all the more poignant since the esteemed guitarist and producer sadly passed away in September 2021.
All the songs were filmed by Cornish filmmaker Mawgan Lewis. You can get an excellent flavour of the project by watching a 9-minute documentary “The Making Of The St Buryan Sessions” (see below) which includes interviews and song snippets.
McQuaid declares the live solo recording “a snapshot of where I am and who I am” and the record stands is an illustration of inspiration and creativity transcending limitations.
