Sorry to harp on, but Stenhousemuir’s Sarah is a potential musical superstar

Like Ed Sheeran, Sarah MacNeil uses a looper pedal and other special effects to layer and embellish the sound of her impressive and expressive playing.

However, while ginger singer songwriter Ed uses a tiny wee six-string acoustic guitar, brunette composer Sarah utilises a 40-string clarsach or Celtic harp.

She said: “I love the mixture of what is probably the country’s oldest musical instrument and new technology. I use effects on the computer for recordings and the loop pedal when I’m playing live.”

Music is now a way of life for the 28-year-old former Larbert High School pupil, who started playing at the age of 11, graduated with first class honours from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2013 and has played at venues all over the UK.

“I do music full-time and I’m playing at lots of weddings and corporate events and entering a lot more competitions now too. It’s just what I always wanted to do.”

While she was studying classical pedal harp, composition and teaching techniques at the Royal Conservatoire, she was also thinking about the future.

“I really love composition – that’s something I want to get into more – writing music for films, that’s the dream, but it’s so hard to get into.”

It may be a hard industry to break into, but Sarah has just created the perfect musical calling card which could at least allow her to get her foot in the door and maybe jam her harp there long enough for the big wigs to listen to her.

The key to her future just might be her debut six-track EP Northbay, which she created herself with help from technology and the strings expertise of Patsy Reid.

“The music in Northbay is inspired by the Islands of Barra and Vatersay and my time spent there as a child during the summer holidays. I composed all the music during a week-long stay in Northbay in October last year.

“It was in preparation for a gig at Celtic Connections where I was asked to perform 30 minutes of original compositions on any theme. I composed the music for harp and string quartet featuring effects pedals and percussive elements.

“My aim was to create music which was a fusion of folk and new music with electronic undertones. I love pushing the boundaries of the clarsach.”

Just one listen to Sarah’s debut recording is enough to transport you to another place – maybe not the actual location she had in her own mind when she was writing the music, but it does have that cinematic quality that could grace any epic – or intimate – film.

Northbay is available now on iTunes, Spotify and other digital formats.

Visit www.sarahmacneil.com for more information.