Craig McWhinney sat outside his tiny home studio, sitting in the Aussie sun, scratching his head through a new hairstyle. In front of him sat a few sheets of thick tin, and Craig imagined the sheets assembling themselves into a fancy custom reverb chamber.
A magpie flew into Craig’s line of sight, hovered and landed near the tin. For those that don’t know, in Australia the magpie is a bird known for stealing children’s lunches and sometimes taking a peck at one’s head if in the vicinity of a nest. This explains Craig’s immediate unease. As a child he’d confronted a group of hostile ‘maggies’ and ended up hitting himself in the face with a brick. True story.
So, when another magpie approached the now adult Craig, his anxiety grew. Though sporting a dashing new hairstyle he couldn’t be sure it would protect him from those vicious, hungry beaks. When a third and fourth magpie hovered and prepared to land, Craig’s only hope was to take shelter under his sheets of tin.
The sound of the birds’ hard, brittle beaks on Craig’s tin was inspirational. He was at the same time afraid and aroused. What a beautiful way to die, he mused, lying under a sea of long plate reflections.
But he didn’t die. Nor can he tell you how, or why. Was it because of some intervention from above? Or was that just another magpie?
And so, he thought it worthwhile sharing such sounds with you on this, his Haul Vinyl release: Divinity.
Also intervening are The Echologist and cv313. It’s difficult to introduce these two fine producers without sounding cliché. To call either of them legendary would be an understatement, and so to have them both included on Craig’s first vinyl release for his own label is both an honour and a privilege. Each remixer has delivered their signature sound in a package that celebrates Craig’s original vision… you know, the way a remix should be!
Enjoy, and watch out for the magpies.