Scottish composer Cameron Mackay releases dark electro-trad single "Tallest Tower"

Tallest Tower Single Artwork by Sophy Louise

Musician, producer and filmmaker Cameron Mackay is set to release his latest single Tallest Tower on Friday 20 September. The atmospheric instrumental track merges a traditional folk style with contemporary electronic music influences.

EXPLORE CAMERON'S MUSIC

MUSIC

The single is titled Tallest Tower due to the dramatic nature of the track which is almost

cinematic, evoking elements of storytelling akin to folklore, fairy tales, ballads and Gaelic

song.

Following in the footsteps of other celebrated Scottish artists who fuse electronic dance music with traditional Celtic folksongs like Niteworks and Valtos, Cameron Mackay takes this style to new, House music-inspired heights.

Fascinated by the cinematic effect of Future Bass and EDM music, Cameron makes his mark on the neo-trad genre with the emotive pulsing bass-led chord stack while staying true to traditional music and playing a fiddle and banjo on the track.

Cameron Mackay said: “I love writing tunes in irregular time signatures and I think that

helped connect with the mysterious and darker elements of Future Bass writing. While

writing Tallest Tower, it was almost a challenge to see how heavy and electronic I could go while still keeping the traditional elements at the heart of the mix.

“The idea for the track came to me late at night after watching quite an intense film. I wanted to create a traditional tune which reached the same levels of tension and epic-ness that you hear on film soundtracks and it all came together really quickly. Once the initial chords were laid down and looped, all the arrangements of each instrument fell into place so the final mix isn’t too far away from the first ideas that I laid down.”

ARTWORK

The artwork was produced by the amazing Sophy Louise Illustration. Tallest Tower is Cameron Mackay’s fourth single, created as the other half of his last release Second Wind, released earlier this year. Where Tallest Tower is dark and moody, Second Wind is upbeat, lighthearted and hopeful. The artwork for both singles was created by Sophy Louise – with each single cover embodying two contrasting moods. Tallest Tower conveys a dark and magical coastal feel while the Second Wind shows a light, mountain scene.

Cameron Mackay continued: “I initially didn’t give any pointers to Sophy about the artwork so it was really cool to see how closely her illustration reflected the images I had in my head while writing the tune. The night-time wave and lighthouse imagery chimed perfectly with the feelings of fairytale-esque drama I wanted to convey.”

Watch an interview with her about her process here:

MUSIC VIDEO

It was wonderful to be able to work with HawkAye who conducted the drone filming that made up the Tallest Tower. Check out his work in the video here: