Accomplished musician, producer and filmmaker Cameron Mackay is set to release his latest single Tallest Tower on Friday 20 September. The atmospheric instrumental track merges a traditional folk style with contemporary electronic music influences.
The single is titled Tallest Tower due to the dramatic nature of the track which is almost cinematic, evoking elements of storytelling akin to folklore, fairy tales, ballads and Gaelic song.
Following in the footsteps of other celebrated Scottish artists who fuse electronic dance music with traditional Celtic folksongs like Niteworks and Valtos, Cameron Mackay takes this style to new, House music-inspired heights.
Fascinated by thecinematic effect of Future Bass and EDM music, Cameron makes his mark on the neo-trad genre with the emotive pulsing bass-led chord stack while staying true to traditional music and playing a fiddle and banjo on the track.
Cameron Mackay said: “I love writing tunes in irregular time signatures and I think that helped connect with the mysterious and darker elements of Future Bass writing. While writing Tallest Tower, it was almost a challenge to see how heavy and electronic I could go while still keeping the traditional elements at the heart of the mix.
“The idea for the track came to me late at night after watching quite an intense film. I wanted to create a traditional tune which reached the same levels of tension and epic-ness that you hear on film soundtracks and it all came together really quickly. Once the initial chords were laid down and looped, all the arrangements of each instrument fell into place so the final mix isn’t too far away from the first ideas that I laid down.”
Tallest Tower is Cameron Mackay’s fourth single, created as the other half of his last release Second Wind, released earlier this year. WhereTallest Tower is dark and moody, Second Wind is upbeat, lighthearted and hopeful.
The artwork for both singles was created by Sophy Louise – with each single cover embodying two contrasting moods. Tallest Tower conveys a dark and magical coastal feel while the Second Wind shows a light, mountain scene.
Cameron Mackay continued: “I initially didn’t give any pointers to Sophy about the artwork so it was really cool to see how closely her illustration reflected the images I had in my head while writing the tune. The night-time wave and lighthouse imagery chimed perfectly with the feelings of fairytale-esque drama I wanted to convey.”
With the single composed, arranged and recorded in Cameron’sflat, Tallest Tower comes from a very raw space, using just one mic and an audio interface.
This latest body of work is inspired by Cameron’s trips around Scotland using Celtic culture to represent the feeling of being connected to different landscapes and communities through music.
With an academic background in climate change, Cameron uses his music and film work to spark new connections between audiences and nature, showcasing solutions to the climate crisis and celebrating contemporary traditional cultural heritage in Scotland.
Cameron set up his film and music production company in 2019 to utilise emotive media to inspire behaviour change. He has composed a host of traditional folk tracks, soundtracks and electronic music, most recently contributing to Cavendish Music’s album Alba: Songs from Scotland.
Tallest Tower will be available to download and stream from Friday 20 September 2024, and is available to pre-save now at https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/cameronmackay/tallest-tower-2.
