Sarah McQuaid New Single, November 2017

The single is being released for radio and online streaming only, and is not available for sale, but is included as an immediate free download with pre-orders of the new album, which opened this week. Click on http://www.sarahmcquaid.com/listen__buy/ to see pre-order options including vinyl LPs, test pressings with original hand-drawn artwork, CDs, T-shirts and a beautiful 30-page hardcover book containing behind-the-scenes photographs and reminiscences from the album recording sessions, photo shoot and video shoot.

Inspired by the leap second added last New Year’s Eve, “The Tug Of The Moon” morphs scientific fact into a poignant and heart-rendingly emotional waltz-tempo ballad (see lyrics below), with Sarah’s rich voice accompanied only by her own plangent, tremolo-enhanced fingerpicking on an Ibanez electric guitar given to her by Michael Chapman on long-term loan.

“The precision and sophistication of the writing and playing blows me away. I am so glad to be involved,” Chapman writes in his liner notes for the album. The legendary singer-songwriter and guitar sage (whose January 2017 Steve Gunn-produced release 50 has drawn widespread acclaim) first met Sarah when both artists played the Village Pump Festival in 2014. 

Since then, he’s become a staunch friend and supporter, even performing as Sarah’s opening act at a local concert he and his wife Andru arranged for her a few months after the festival. Sarah became a regular visitor to the Chapmans’ farmhouse in Cumbria, and during one visit he made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“We were having a chat and a glass of wine, and he said ‘Why don’t you let me produce your next album?’,” Sarah recalls. “I’m glad he said it, because I’d never have dared ask otherwise!”

While the single (like Sarah’s live concerts) is a solo performance, Chapman does play on many of the other album tracks; guest musicians also include Roger Luxton on drums and percussion, Samuel Hollis on upright and electric bass, Richard Evans on trumpet, Georgia Ellery on violin and Joe Pritchard on cello. 

The album was recorded by Sarah’s longtime manager and sound engineer, Martin Stansbury, in a sod-roofed shed in Cornwall, temporarily converted to a studio for the duration.

A video for “The Tug Of The Moon”, filmed in St Buryan Village Hall by Cornwall-based filmmaker Mawgan Lewis of Purple Knif Productions, is due to be released later this month, and will be followed by other music videos, plus a promotional video featuring album recording footage and interview clips with both Michael and Sarah.

The video production and the album itself have been made possible thanks to financial support from Arts Council England Grants For The Arts, using public money from the Government and the National Lottery, and from Cultivator, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, Arts Council England and Cornwall Council.

Recently honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Ards International Guitar Festival in Northern Ireland, Sarah’s also drawn critical praise for her voice (which has been variously likened to malt whiskey and melted chocolate) and her engaging rapport with audiences:  “I’ve attended hundreds of concerts of all kinds, and her subtle mastery onstage launches her straight into my fave shows ever,” wrote The Huffington Post. 

Reviewers of the Madrid-born, Chicago-raised, Cornwall-based singer/songwriter’s previous albums have repeatedly alluded to her “relative obscurity” (The Big Takeover) and “under-the-radar” (The Vinyl District) profile. With her new album – on which she expands her battery of instruments to include piano and the aforementioned electric guitar – she looks set to change that.

Released on Sarah’s own Shovel And A Spade Records label, If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous will be launched with a concert at the Acorn arts centre in Sarah’s adopted home town of Penzance on Thursday, 25 January, following which she’ll be touring the album extensively in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany and the USA; a full list of dates will be announced very soon.