last Drone of the summer

Vaughan - acoustic guitar, mandolin, dan bau, EBow, voice, percussion(?)
Keith - acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, percussion(?)
Vicky - melodica, Casio mini-keyboard, bells, percussion, recorder
me - saz, percussion
grasshoppers (or crickets?) - relentless chirping


Vaughan playing dan bau (with an EBow) - photo by Keith
This one was hastily arranged around another of my flying visits to Devon, hence the small numbers (quite a few Droners almost came, but pulled out at the last minute). We were originally talking about keeping it entirely acoustic, but in the end, the mini-Casio got used, and Vaughan gently amplified his stringed instruments (notably the dan bau, which he experimentally played with his recently acquired EBow). There was a constant chirping from the local cricket (or grasshopper?) population which may have affected the rhythms of some of the pieces (although not all of us could hear it). Vicky experimented with the melodica (having found her harmonium to be too loud and difficult to control, volumewise), but eventually settled on the little keyboard (we got some unexpected dog barks and space laser sounds as a result of her "what does this button do?" approach to the device!). Overall, a gentle, drifty, pleasant, but not particularly striking, largely centring around the interaction between Keith and my saz. My balalaika arrived and got tuned up, but not actually played.


me tuning my balalaika (which didn't actually get played) - photo by Keith

Vicky in repose, me tuning up and the last patch of evening sunlight - photo by Keith
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