Xavier Boderiou going back to roots with new album

Avoiding the complications of most piping recordings today, Brittany’s Xavier Boderiou is going back to basics with a new album that, if crowdfunding goes as planned, he hopes to launch in October.

“Most of the tunes on the album are composed by me,” he said, “but the repertoire sticks to the great piping tradition.”

Gwrizienn (“root” in the Breton language) is the name of the project, which he added will be “a solo piping album focused on sound and technique.” It will be available as both a digital download and compact disc and only through his website.

True to his polymath nature, Boderiou has recorded, mixed and produced the album on his own, capturing the tracks in his bagpipe manufacturing and reedmaking workshop.

“The plan is to release a piping album that reflects the natural sound of the pipes,” he added, in much the same way that solo Highland piping recordings were almost always created in pre-Internet days.

He released a video recently, shot at the 16th-century Chateau du Taureau near Morlaix, Brittany.

pipes|drums readers can assist with a donation to the project at his crowdfunding page.