Mhairi Hall and David de la Haye - Underwater Cairngorms (2025) [Hi-Res]

We invite you dive into a unique underwater sonic journey of a selection of lochs from the Scottish Highlands. Underwater Cairngorms, the new album from award-winning composer Mhairi Hall and renowned field recordist David de la Haye, combines the mysterious underwater soundscapes of freshwater lochs with impressionistic piano composition. Underwater Cairngorms transforms our understanding of the Cairngorms landscape through imagination and creativity whilst documenting the environmental challenges of these freshwater locations. This unique collaboration between piano, harmonium, and underwater soundscape transports the listener to another world. Although sounding digitally processed, the album is almost entirely acoustic, from the resonance of the piano strings, the breath of harmonium bellows, the reverbs of lochs and the sounds of aquatic nature.

Over the course of a calendar year, Mhairi and David researched the seasonal effects on the underwater soundscapes. Freshwater habitats remain largely undocumented across the UK and have never been recorded in the Cairngorms until now. Over the year, Mhairi and David visited six locations: Loch Garten, River Feshie, Loch Morlich, An Lochan Uaine, An Lochan Uath and Loch Mallachie.