Andy Cartwright, known professionally as Seabuckthorn, is an English guitarist and producer, based in France. As Seabuckthorn, he has released a number of albums of primarily guitar-based instrumental music with folk and contemporary influences.

Career

Cartwright began releasing music as Seabuckthorn in 2008, self-publishing collections of tracks on home-made CDs, with his first album on a label coming in 2011 in the form of ''In Nightfall'', a

mini-album A mini-LP or mini-album is a short record album or LP, usually retailing at a lower price than an album that would be considered full-length. It is distinct from an EP due to containing more tracks and a slightly longer running length. A mini- ...

released by France-based Bookmaker Records. At that time, a reviewer for the local music magazine '' Nightshift'' compared his work to that of Alexander Tucker and Matt Elliott, describing it as "avant-garde guitar" instrumental music, constructed from layered acoustic tracks, arpeggiated arrangements and "almost sitar-esque" drones, producing an eerie atmosphere, and commented that the pieces are well-constructed but lack striking melodies. The album ''The Silence Woke Me'' came the following year, also under Bookmaker, and was described by ''Nightshifts Tom McKibbin as more rhythmically involved and

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

-based. Cartwright was recording and mixing his next album (third under Bookmaker and fifth overall) – ''They Haunted Most Thickly'' – for two years before its 2015 release. According to him as cited on the label's website, it is a "collection of songs played mainly on an open C tuned

resonator guitar A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar (often generically called a " Dobro") is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar' ...

& an open A tuned

12-string acoustic guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in oc ...

". The music on Cartwright's 2016 EP, ''I Could See the Smoke'' was also played using the 12-string and resonator guitar, with percussion. The production features "ghost voices

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

float across the top of everything, eerie wails and moans" according to ''

Cyclic Defrost ''Cyclic Defrost'' is an Australian specialist electronic music magazine. It was founded and edited by Sebastian Chan, with current editors Bob Baker Fish, Chris Downton and Peter Hollo. It covers independent electronic music, avant-rock, experi ...

''s Lachlan Wrong. He further described the direction as "murky" and "dense", and the material as demanding, noting that studio techniques were used to alter the sound of instruments, sometimes beyond recognition, including guitars "resembling a violin or viola". It was released on the American label Lost Tribe Sound, and was recorded following a 2016 European tour. Subsequently, the 2017 Seabuckthorn album ''Turns'' was released by the same label. On three of the songs, he was joined on

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

by a label mate – American composer and producer

William Ryan Fritch William Ryan Fritch (also known under the moniker Vieo Abiungo) is an American musician, composer, and producer, currently residing in Oakland, California. He is a member of Sole and the Skyrider Band and has released several albums under his own ...

. Describing the music's broadly

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

style, ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

''s Scott A. Gray noted neo-classical and

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

elements, and identified the sounds of

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana music, a genre or style of American music * Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1981 film), an American drama film * ''Americana'' (20 ...

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and drones of Asian music in Cartwright's guitar approach. Following up on his review of the 2016 EP, Wrong wrote of a "cleaner and brighter sound" and an "airier and more relaxed approach to playing and composition", and stated that the songs have a greater sense of resolution. The album's mastering was done by

James Plotkin James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer known for his role in bands such as Khanate and OLD but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has played guitar for Phantomsmasher and Scorn and continues to remix tracks for ba ...

and the cover by Gregory Euclide. In 2017, an EP with

Loscil Loscil is the electronic/ambient music project of Scott Morgan from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Morgan launched the project in Vancouver in 1998 while a member of the multimedia collective Multiplex, which curated audiovisual events at a ...

was released by the label Thesis. His later recordings have been released by labels including LAAPS, IIKKI, Eilean Rec, Fluid Audio and Quiet Details. Cartwright also releases

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

under his own name, as well as making music for use in

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

websites A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education ...

and

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...

Personal life

Cartwright was born near Oxford and moved to the town of

Saint-Pierre-d'Argençon Saint-Pierre-d'Argençon (; Vivaro-Alpine dialect, Vivaro-Alpine: ''Sant Peire d'Argençon'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Hautes-Alpes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in S ...

in the Southern French Alps.

Discography

Full-length albums

*''Distant Summer Storm'' (2009, self-released) *''A Mantra Pulled Apart'' (2010, self-released) *''The Silence Woke Me'' (2012, Bookmaker Records) *''They Haunted Most Thickly'' (2015, Bookmaker Records) *''Turns'' (2017, Lost Tribe Sound) *''A House With Too Much Fire'' (2018, Bookmaker Records/La Cordillere) *''Crossing'' (2019, Eilean Rec) *''Through A Vulnerable Occur'' (2020, IIKKI) *''Other Other'' (2020, Fluid Audio) *''Of No Such Place'' (2022, LAAPS) *''Inlandscape'' (2023, Fluid Audio) *''This Warm, This Late'' (2024, Quiet Details)

Mini-albums, EPs and splits

*''Twilight Synopsis'' (2008, self-released; EP) *''In Nightfall'' (2011, Bookmaker Records; mini album) *''I Could See The Smoke'' (2016, Lost Tribe Sound; EP) *''

& Seabuckthorn Collaboration'' (2017, THESIS; EP) *''Dean Mcphee & Seabuckthorn Split'' (2017, Sonido Polifonico; split single) *''And Spark And Singe'' (2021; EP)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Andy English producers English folk guitarists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Date of birth missing (living people)