lord of the isles, a.k.a. neil mcdonald, has spent the better part of a decade steadily producing and releasing beautiful music. the esp institute has always wholeheartedly believed in neil’s work ethic and his journey as an artist who constantly refines his vision, and when we inevitably approached in hopes of working together, we were enamoured by the sheer breadth and depth of work he had in progress’. there are two types of artists. one internalises their process, endlessly perfecting their work while finding the endpoint a massive hurdle, in turn they produce immaculate yet very little art. the other is continuously inspired, so full of ideas they can barely work fast enough to articulate them all. the art becomes by-product of their larger trajectory and not just a collection of endpoints. lord of the isles seems to be both, always in an evolving state of process where the work is constantly shed to make way for the new layer growing beneath, yet he holds his cards closely, cherry picking when and with whom he releases his art into the world. neil is simply prolific. he shared with us a vast catalog of unheard beauty, which over a long span of time was collaboratively shaped into his debut album “in waves”. the title speaks to neil’s process both intimately and from afar, it speaks to the emotional ebb and flow of the music itself, and ultimately it speaks to the listener. ahead of the album’s release, we are proud to share with you the single ‘weh-in’, a mesmerizing arpeggio melody that opens and closes, purrs and barks, and plays nicely with its percussive accompaniment over more than 10 minutes. this lengthy single version of the track is joined by a dark and stormy, exclusive non-album cut entitled ‘pik’, as well as a big room rave remix by esp institute resident ian blevins, which take us to a slightly more frantic place while retaining the euphoric essence of the original.
