Release date: 29 January 2021

Fergus McCreadie Piano

David Bowden Double Bass

Stephen Henderson Drums

Fergus McCreadie is a complete and well-rounded musician, a passionate communicator and consummate performer. He is a composer of elegant, nuanced and captivating music as well as a pianist and improviser of exceptional ability and originality.

Since he burst onto the national scene with his self-released debut album Turas in 2018, Fergus has racked up awards including Album of the Year at the Parliamentary and Scottish Jazz Awards, the shortlist of cross-genre Scottish Album of the Year Award 2019, finalist in the 2018 BBC Jazz Musician of the Year and more recently, in October 2020, he was awarded Best Instrumentalist at the Scottish Jazz Awards.

Cairn is the highly anticipated follow-up to Fergus’ debut and despite all the hype this new album is gaining, he delivers in spades. Cairn is an album inspired by the tradition and landscape of his native Scotland. It declares itself with an energetic freshness of sound and originality reminiscent of the dynamism and personality with which the likes of piano trios The Bad Plus and EST emerged almost two decades ago. Responding to the circumstances of a vastly changed era, Fergus and his trio, with their profoundly mesmerising and compelling music, look set to evoke similar trajectories in progressing to the global stage. They certainly have the necessary instrumental command, musical maturity, sophisticated communication and native originality to do so.

The music is dynamic and excites with a youthful but masterful flair. Over nine compositions, all penned by Fergus, the album moves effortlessly from impressionistic modal searchings to high octane, hard driving jigs and nuanced ballads underpinned by democratic improvisation.

Fergus McCreadie is riding high and it’s only a matter of time before he reaches new heights in developing global audiences. If ever there’s an album that can sing, excite and inspire, Cairn is it. A melting pot of originality, freshness of sound and vitality, with all the potential to be one of the standout releases of 2021.

Note on Artwork:

Each format released, including the LP, CD, Digital album and single covers, features a different picture of a rock. Each rock was collected by Fergus in the Scottish highlands. Together these rocks constitute a Cairn. Design by Oli Bentley from Split and photography by Dave Stapleton