The Hermitage Suite

The Hermitage Suite is a very personal album. Pencil sketch of The Hermitage Cover showing a young Laurence Mackin on the bridge at The Hermitage near Dunkeld Scotland.When it was originally released in 1997 to mark the tenth anniversary of the loss of my father Laurence Mackin, I performed the songs extensively around the Teesside area in pubs and folk clubs.

It was recorded on a four-track tape machine which had its limits. Now, 25 years later, I have embellished the original recordings and it is now available on all streaming sites.

The songs are very personal. They cover the emotions of losing my Dad while trying to deal with the life choices I made in my 20s. I am very proud of these songs and delighted at the improved results on the new release.

I am creating new videos to support the release and hope to perform the songs in some shows over the next year.

I have created a booklet to accompany the album and I will be exploring the songs within my blog over the next few months. A sketch of Laurence Mackin

Please feel free to comment on what you read as it all unfolds.

The track listings are as follows:


1. Ossian's Hall - (D.A Mackin)
2. You Can Open Your Eyes Now - (D.A Mackin)
3. Emotionally Free - (D.A Mackin)
4. Wings - (Brian Bedford)
5. The Blood Of Belfast - (D.A Mackin)
6. Tommy The Trencher - (D.A Mackin and I.M Erving)
7. As Wise As A Serpent - (Gerry Rafferty)
8. Entwined - (D.A Mackin)
9. Lost Star - (D.A Mackin)
10. Ben Adhem's Return - (D.A Mackin and I. M Erving)
11. When We Way Goodbye - (D.A Mackin and M.P Mackin)
12. Ossian Hall Reprise (Ideals) - - (D.A Mackin and Carey Holbrooke)

Being a tribute to my late Dad, it has a very special addition with a recording of him set to music. When this was originally recorded by Dad in Saudi Arabia in 1978 there was a very loud air conditioning unit in the background of the recording. I pitched the music around this noise so that it was'nt too intrusive within the recording that appeared on the original release of The Hermitage Suite. Thanks to AI Technology I have been able to remove this noise from the recording leaving just my Dad's voice in crystal clear clarity on the new release. Similar technology has been used to enhance John Lennon's voice in the recent Beatles single Now And Then.

The album has been a true labour of love for me and I have thoroughly enjoyed recording the enhancements to my original recordings. I will be discussing the technological methods used in the creation of this recording in my blog over the coming months.