Francis Macdonald has been a prominent figure of the Scottish indy music scene since the late 80s. More recently he’s been making a name for himself writing scores for films and TV, which is how we know each other. Last November he invited DOP Mark Boggis to film the recording of the follow-up to his first classical album ‘Music for String Quartet, Piano, and Celeste’. This new project would be something quite special.
All 11 tracks were recorded in one day in Hamilton’s freezing cold mausoleum. The why and how of making an album in such a strange place is covered in the film. On the day the cameras were there simply to record the session, which Mark did with aplomb (and his Sony FS7).
Two months later Francis asked if I would like to make something of the footage. On and off over the summer I’ve been chipping away at it. It’s been directed in the edit to Mark’s beautiful shots, and Francis’ narration and gorgeous music. Given that there was no plan other than to get video of the recording session, along with the difficulty of recording in a super-echoey venue, I’m pleased with the finished result.
If you’ve got five minutes to spare please put it on the biggest screen you can, and pipe it through the best speakers you’ve got.
You can pre-order the album here: https://francismacdonald.tmstor.es/
ALSO: Francis talks briefly about scoring a comedy I directed: ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’ …