Written by: Jen Dan
Renowned UK-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Sarah McQuaid returns with her fifth solo album, titled If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous, which comes out February 2nd via Shovel And A Spade Records.
Stereo Embers Magazine has the pleasure of premiering the title track off the new LP. The propulsive, apocalyptic number was inspired by a warning McQuaid heard herself giving her son as he excavated an enormous hole in their back garden. There’s an obvious allusion to fracking (“Splitting cracks in the rock / to free the power inside”), but the song’s thematic scope extends well beyond that: “Sometimes the way to fix a problem is to turn the pressure off” is a maxim that could apply to virtually any aspect of life.
McQuaid rounded up legendary singer-songwriter and guitar sage Michael Chapman to produce the album, and while musings on mortality dominate this recording, it’s by no means all gloom. McQuaid covers Jeff Wayne’s melancholy “Forever Autumn” and includes two instrumentals and a medieval chant.
The artist also plays an electric guitar belonging to Chapman on four songs, which can be heard now on lead single “The Tug Of The Moon.” Chapman writes in the introduction of the album’s booklet, “The precision and sophistication of the writing and playing blows me away. I am so glad to be involved.”
McQuaid also plays piano to beautiful effect on “The Silence Above Us” and has enlisted a top crop of guest musicians, including Chapman on archtop electric guitar, 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.
If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous was launched with a concert at the Acorn arts center in McQuaid’s adopted home town of Penzance and she will be touring extensively in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, and the USA.
Find out more about Sarah McQuaid
