22nd June 2020: #WhirlwindInFocus: ‘Inishbofin’ by Rebecca Nash & Atlas – new video *exclusive* featuring visuals from Ning-Ning Li and Chris Lucas

Our next guest in the latest edition of #WhirlwindInFocus is keyboardist Rebecca Nash. Active as a performer, composer, arranger and educator, Rebecca leads her own group Atlas, and took part in Serious’ Take Five development programme. Rebecca released Peaceful King on Whirlwind Recordings in 2019, and today marks the release of her first music video, a collaboration between artist Ning-Ning Li and videographer Chris Lucas. Interview by Hugh Morris (hugh@whirlwindrecordings.com)

WWR: Hey Rebecca, thanks for talking to #WhirlwindInFocus about the new video! Atlas form a key part of your musical output –  how did this successful partnership come about? 

RN: All the musicians in that band bring certain key qualities, both musically and personally to the project. I’ve known Matt Fisher and Nick Malcolm for a while now – we studied together, and have played in various line-ups over the years, so what that experience gives is a sense of trust and openness on and off the bandstand which I value immensely. When I relocated to Birmingham in 2014, I met Chris Mapp, which was perfect timing. I was looking for a bass player to start up this project with Nick and Matt (ideally someone who used electronics too), and Chris is an expert in both.  He has such a distinctive musical voice which contributes so much to the music, and when we decided to add guitar to the band a year later, Tom Seminar Ford was the obvious choice. Chris and Tom have also played in a bunch of bands together (definitely check out his band Stillefelt), and one of my Peaceful King favourite moments was when the three of us were developing the sounds for Grace, which came together so quickly, because they are quite symbiotic.

I also met Sara Colman when relocating (although we’re both Bristolians, somehow our paths hadn’t crossed until then) – and we reworked several of the pieces together, which took the music somewhere new. The whole process took about three years, after which the album was born!!

WWR: On your J to Z show (broadcast on BBC Radio 3), you mentioned how important the differing creative strands of your band coming together is to creating exciting new music. How have you kept that spark alive with Atlas during lockdown, and how has the dynamic changed?

RN: I feel like this time for me has been about learning hard to adapt. When we went into lockdown, it took a minute to stop the urge to ‘busy’ myself as a way of coping and then if anything, I went the other way for a few weeks. As musicians, we normally live in a blurry rush, and although there is so much difficult stuff going on all the time at the moment, the one positive thing I can appreciate is a sense of enforced stopping for a bit. I’ve now sorted my studio setup and am looking towards the next album.

WWR: What’s the story behind the Peaceful King album cover? And could you tell us a little bit about how the stunning new video for ‘Inishbofin’ came into being off the back of it?

RN: Ning-Ning Li (the incredible artist who designed the album cover), brought the many themes of the different pieces together in this remarkable artistic response.  It was important that she had free rein to come up with the design. Ning is an also a face painter, and she combined this skill with her illustration – she’s a genius! I love that the image leaves much of its interpretation open for the listener – the person on the front is not gender or race specific, but more of an amalgamation of many of the images, titles, ideas and feelings explored within the music.

Moving on to the video …. so, the process of releasing the album last year ended up being quite quick for various reasons and I didn’t have time to make a music video before we put the record out. I had been working with videographer Chris Lucas recently on another project (he is one of the most passionate filmmakers I’ve ever met), and asked him if he might be interested creating something retrospectively using the artwork so that we had some digital content online for this project. He’s done such a brilliant job, and we’ve already started work on another video for some new music…watch this space!

WWR: On that note, I realise it’s a difficult question at the moment, but where’s next for you? Could you give us a flavour of some of the projects you’d like to do, with Atlas or with other groups?

I’ve plans to release another record. Last year I was commissioned to compose a piece for the Bristol Jazz Festival and I ended up writing a suite called Redefining Element 78. I asked saxophonist John O’Gallagher to join us for the gig, and so he will feature on the album too. The music is quite a different vibe from Atlas, so that’s exciting…  I’m also working on a project with Sara Colman – we’re writing a duo album at the moment, and so I’m enjoying getting stuck into that. Also, Nick Walters and I are planning to do some lockdown collaborations too.

WWR: And finally…what are some of your favourite non-musical activities to do during lockdown? And one thing you miss the most in the current climate?

RN: I’m sure if I actually bother to check a pedometer, I’d discover I’d walked over 100 miles in lockdown.  I’ve been dragging my other half out on daily country walks – to counteract all the sitting around… and we’ve been hitting up Netflix hard!

It turns out I’m rubbish at quizzes (I already knew that to be fair), but lockdown has confirmed that for me. However, my favourite zooms so far have been lockdown wine-tastings with Ollie Brice and Nick Malcolm. I basically spent them pretending to myself that I know something about wine – but it’s completely untrue, in comparison to those two buffs…ha! However, we do all belong to the wine society (don’t you know!), and so we’ve had some fun evenings.

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Rebecca’s album Peaceful King with Atlas (Nicholas Malcolm, Chris Mapp, Tom Seminar Ford, Matt Fisher, Sara Colman and Nick Walters) is out now on Whirlwind Recordings on 12″ LP 180g Limited Edition Vinyl / CD / DL: here

You can find Rebecca on Twitter & Instagram @rebeccanashkeys. Check out her projects with Bristol Jazz Festival, and listen back to her J to Z show on BBC Radio 3.

Click the link to learn more about #WhirlwindInFocus. For our general news feed, click here.