QnA: Emma Tomlinson of The Routes Quartet
One of the many music days and nights coming to Inverness over the summer at Under Canvas, includes The Routes Quartet, who play on Wednesday (July 17) on a bill with Hannah Rarity – the night before at Stratherrick Public Hall, Gorthleck, in dates across the Highlands (see base of article). Here viola player Emma Tomlinson answers a few questions from Margaret Chrystall about the string line-up which Emma says works less like a classical music concept – and more like a band …
Q Basics first, I suppose … when and how did you all get together? And that’s Emma Tomlinson (viola), Rufus Huggan (cello) and David Lombardi and Madeleine Stewart (both on fiddle)?
Emma: So Rufus and I started the band, originally with Grainne Brady and Tricia Mullen. We recorded our first album, Windrose, and then went on tour. After that Grainne and Tricia left to pursue other projects/work and Rufus and I teamed up with David and Madeleine! Then Covid came and everything slowed down for a while so really pleased to be getting out and about with our new album, Arche.
Q It’s an intriguing band name. How did you come up with it?
Emma: We didn’t! Pianist Tom Gibbs came up with our name. We were chatting at the band’s inception and he suggested it as we were all from different places, geographically and musically, forging a new path together. Routes seemed fitting for that. And choosing a band name is so hard!
Q Being a string quartet, some people might think that was a classical music concept, how does it work with lots of different kinds of music – folk, traditional, jazz, I think?
Emma: So in this instance the only formal ‘classical’ side is the instrument ensemble set up – that of a string quartet. In every other sense we approach the writing/arranging like a band. With ideas, jams, improvisation – then we hone it to a final idea, with all our influences involved in the making. It’s a collaborative effort and I think it’s what makes the music so special. Most string quartets read music they are given by a composer. Or someone has composed for them. It’s really refreshing to be working from the inside out. Everything we play comes from us, nothing has been given to us to interpret. It makes the music very personal.
Q You come from England (Emma), Scotland (Rufus), Italy (David)and America (Madeleine) in the quartet. And all of you have seem to have got wrapped up in music from other cultures and travelled a lot! That must give you a huge background of music to base the Quartet’s music on?
Emma: Yes, all of our respective backgrounds work their way into the music and we’re all still creating/learning/travelling outside of the group, so when we come to write new music, there’s new influences to draw on.
Q And future plans?
Emma: We hope to get to Ireland again soon and it’d be great to venture to Europe and America in due course.
Q You have your current album out – Arche – will you be playing from that for your gigs in the Highlands? Emma: Arche is our most recent release. We recorded it in a house in Dumfries and Galloway with a bespoke studio set up. We had Greg Lawson (GRIT, Moishe’s Bagel) and David Donaldson (Grammy award winner) co-producing the album with us. We wanted to capture our process and recorded our playing in a live setting, in terms of all playing at once without layering parts (which is what is more common in studio recordings). David D then manipulated our takes with some sound samples he had, and we created, to add another sound world into the recording. We try to recreate these/improvise new ones in real time during the performance. We come away from the melodies and structures we’ve written to go completely free form, eventually merging back into our more ‘scripted’ parts. We’ll be sharing this with audiences in The Old Inn, Carbost, Skye, Stratherrick Public Hall, Gorthleck, Under Canvas and The Ceilidh Place, Ullapool.
Q What are your plans for the rest of this year?
Emma: After this tour we have another tour in October and will be releasing those dates shortly. We haven’t had a chance to share this new music with many people yet, so for the foreseeable we’ll be getting out on the road to do that.
+ You can see The Routes Quartet live at: The Old Inn, Carbost, Skye, on Monday, July 15; Stratherrick Public Hall, Gorthleck, on Tuesday, July 16; Under Canvas at Eden Court on Wednesday, July 17; and The Ceilidh Place, Ullapool on Thursday, July 18. And check out the quartet’s biogs here: The Routes Quartet – Home (routesstringquartet.com) and the film on YouTube where they talk about the music. Latest second album Arche was made in Dumfries and Galloway in a house where the four ”… improvised, experimented… and captured sounds from the surrounding landscape …” then recorded the album. You can buy Arche, here: Arche | The Routes Quartet (bandcamp.com)
So impress me 