Sand, Silt, Flint 

    Startling Scottish balladry with a global scope.

    The Guardian * * * * 

    Image credit: Dark Rabbit by Clea Wallis

    Sand, Silt, Flint is the new album and immersive performance by Scottish avant folk composer and vocalist Fiona Soe Paing. Fiona’s re-imagined traditional ballads draw on the folklore, landscape, language and rich balladry tradition of North East Scotland. Her performance interweaves Fiona’s mesmerising live vocals with archive sound, field recordings, traditional instrumentation, film and animation. Sand, Silt, Flint is an uncanny re-telling of ancient tales for new times and is also available to experience as a series of sound walks at locations around North East Scotland. 

    Fiona Soe Paing’s spellbinding brew of alt-folk melds her Scottish/Burmese heritage, electronic music background and fascination with the darker side of North-East Scotland’s balladry tradition, with a delicately blended palette of shimmering electronic textures and traditional Scottish sounds. Otherworldly vocals, grainy synths, haunted strings, archival  material and sounds from nature concoct an unsettling and evocative soundtrack for the accompanying visuals by collaborator Isla Goldie.

    Soe Paing delivers that rarest of treats, a sublimely powerful and lingering experience…

    SONGLINES MAGAZINE * * * * 

    Image credit: Isla Goldie

    The Live Show

    Sand, Silt, Flint re-imagines ancient stories and songs, conjuring a compelling blend of tradition and innovation, challenging perspectives and offering an invitation to view our familiar landscapes through a new lens.

    Building on the success of the digital album Sand Silt Flint, and now coinciding with its physical CD release, the show will bring the music and North East locations to life. Fiona’s performance will be accompanied by stunning visuals from the songs’ locations created by filmmaker and artist Isla Goldie. Fiona’s costume, created by artist April Pressley incorporating locally sourced found objects and natural materials, resonates with the landscapes which inspired the album. The show is an hour long. It will tour Scotland in 2025.

    Email: info@openroadltd.co.uk to be sent the Tour Information Pack.

    Massive Attack meets bothy ballads in north-east musician’s cutting-edge album.

    The Press and Journal

    Tour Dates

    Friday 28 February 2025, 7pm: The Lemon Tree, West North Street, Aberdeen, AB24 5AT

    Buy tickets here

    Please consider travelling by public transport instead of driving. There is a bus stop outside The Lemon Tree and details of timetables can be found at: www.firstbus.co.uk/aberdeen

    Saturday 29 March 2025, 7:30pm: Skye Bridge Studios, The Old School, Main Street, Kyle of Lochalsh, IV40 8DA

    Buy tickets here

    Saturday 03 May 2025, 7:30pm: Universal Hall , The Park, Findhorn, IV36 3TZ

    Buy tickets here

    About Sand, Silt, Flint

    Image credit: Isla Goldie

    Fiona developed the idea for Sand, Silt, Flint while she was researching her family history. On returning to Aberdeenshire after many years living outside Scotland, Fiona felt disconnected from her roots and heritage. A desire to re-connect with her Scottish roots led her to revisit some of the landscapes and stories she knew as a child. Fiona was excited to discover that she is related to one of the original North East ballad singers, John Strachan, who was recorded by the folk historian Alan Lomax.  Fiona was inspired to carry this link with the past, into the future, by recording her own electronica version of one of John Strachan’s songs. This gradually developed into the idea for Sand, Silt, Flint and to re-imagine and re-interpret some of North East Scotland’s traditional ballads and folk tales for new audiences, presenting the work in a novel and engaging way, keeping the stories alive and bringing the tradition forward in a new direction. 

    …dark and extraordinary versions of traditional songs… I am already a big fan.

    ELIZABETH ALKER, BBC RADIO 3 UNCLASSIFIED

    Having been mentored by Brit Award Winner Beth Orton, Fiona cites Orton as an important influence, but takes the “folktronica’ sound into much deeper, darker territory, such as explored by Burd Ellen and Angelina Morrison.  Songs of murders, untimely deaths, forlorn lovers, ancient curses and drowned sisters mix with the warmth and texture of the production which has influences in the work of mystery-shrouded Scottish electronic duo, Boards of Canada.

    I already knew a few folk songs from the North East, but never realised the tradition was so immense… when I discovered that one of my relatives was one of the original ballad singers, that was a lightbulb moment for me, when everything clicked into place.

    Fiona Soe Paing

    Sound Walks

    Sand, Silt, Flint is also presented via a series of outdoor geo-located sound walks in the Echoes mobile app; using smart-phones and headphones, the audio is triggered by GPS, enabling audiences to experience the music in the environments which provided it’s inspiration.

    Each walk is accompanied by text detailing the local folklore that inspired it and practical information on how to get to each location. 

    …next generation folk music. A masterful collection, rooted in place but otherworldly in spirit.

    FINDING LAND FOLK SHOW

    About Fiona

    Image credit: Isla Goldie

    Scottish/Burmese producer and vocalist Fiona Soe Paing has been creating innovative and mesmerising audio-visual experiences for nearly two decades. Her solo work explores underlying themes of language, place, belonging and identity.

    Career highlights include: the critically acclaimed Alien Lullabies, Fiona’s debut album and Made in Scotland Edinburgh Fringe show; live sessions for BBC Radio 3 and Radio Scotland, and her debut solo track included on one of the BBC DJ and musicologist Charlie Gillett’s renowned “Sound Of The World” compilation albums for Warner Music. 

    Fiona’s music has featured on BBC6 Music (Iggy Pop, Tom Robinson). BBC Radio 3 (Verity Sharp, Elizabeth Alker), BBC World Service (Charlie Gillett), BBC Radio 1 (Mary Anne Hobbs) Radio Scotland (Vic Galloway, Mary Ann Kennedy) as well as Radio Scotland’s Out of Doors programme and the award-winning podcast Folk On Foot.

    Sand, Silt, Flint Supporting Artists 

    Combining Fiona’s arrangements of five traditional ballads from the Child, Greig-Duncan and Carpenter collections, with five original compositions, the album includes contributions from some of the area’s premier instrumentalists:

    With Thanks to Supporters

    Fiona has received generous support from Creative Scotland, Help Musicians UK and Aberdeen Performing Arts. Samples of John Strachan’s voice and ballads are from the Alan Lomax Collection at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Courtesy of the Association for Cultural Equity. With additional thanks to the University of Edinburgh, School of Scottish Studies for use of archive material.