Back in July, I returned to Kelburn – a magical festival about an hour’s drive from Glasgow.
It’s difficult to explain exactly what makes the garden party so special, but a good chunk of it almost certainly comes from the setting: a sprawling country estate complete with winding paths, secret stages, and the ‘never-ending glen’ to explore.
This was my third time at Kelburn, but my first time as an artist – playing a set late on Friday night as allmyfriendsaresynths. I had been invited to perform by my friend and fellow musician Sly Dig, and it meant a lot to get to participate more actively somewhere so important to the Scottish music scene, but also somewhere that has come to mean quite a lot to me personally.
Unfortunately, this year was wet. Very wet. And very muddy. That is of course always a risk at a Scottish festival, but no matter how well prepared you are, it does inevitably put something of a (literal) dampener on things. There is after all only so long you can stand in the pishing rain or sleep in a sodden tent before it wears you down a bit… and even the most weather-hardened party animals will get filled with dread at the prospect of packing up their stuff and dragging it through the mud on the final day.
Nevertheless, we persisted. In the process, we discovered that umbrella hats act as interesting bass resonators.
There is so much to see and to photograph at Kelburn, from incredible outfits, to psychedelic artwork – and I packed my battered old Leica M2 and Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f1.4 for the occasion. The constant rain meant that even my micro-fibre cloth was soaked through, and no matter how often I wiped down the lens it remained smudged up. While not exactly ideal, it did lend a rather dreamy glow to the pictures which I think capture something of my mental state and perception at the time quite nicely.
Alas, I think it is probably impossible to accurately document the festival as well as truly experience it. At least not the way I want to anyway. You can’t really soak up the wonder of the glen, dance with strangers at the Beech Plateau, or lose yourself in the dub tent for literally hours (never mind play a gig!) if you are focussed on capturing all of the details. And so this collection of photographs is sadly – but necessesarily – inadequate.
Until next year…