An Orkney couple has successfully put together a series of clues to discover an album hidden on the island.
Composer Erland Cooper, who was born and raised in Stromness, buried his new album in his hometown last year – after deleting all of the digital files.
He invited the public to try and uncover the only remaining recording by sharing a series of clues and a “cryptic map” on his website.
Now, the album has successfully been found by a married couple from Kirkwall.
Victoria and Dan Rhodes spent three days last month putting together the clues and travelling around the island.
“It sounded like a lot of fun and something a bit different,” said Mrs Rhodes. “It was a bit of a challenge.”
Putting the clues together
The couple quickly realised they needed to piece together all of the clues shared online to find success, including a video of Mr Cooper planting the album.
“The video he’d made, most of that was filmed on Rousay at Midhowe Broch and Westness,” Mrs Rhodes said. “So, we thought we’d go there.
“But, the album wasn’t there. He absolutely tried to throw everybody off.”
Mrs Rhodes, 41, and Mr Rhodes, 44, then started looking more closely at the rock formations in the video shots where the burial took place.
He said: “The Rousay rocks tend to be all level. From a distance a lot of them look manmade. So, we were looking for manmade areas or somewhere near a cliff edge, and we never found any of that there.
“I thought it looked more like peat hill rock, like shale, but turns out it was granite.”
Composer thrilled album is found
After exploring Evie and Rousay, the couple eventually found the buried album in Stromness, where the spot was marked with a carved stone.
“When we dug it up there was a violin on the top and then a biscuit tin, and underneath that was the tape,” Mrs Rhodes said.
“Inside the shortbread tin were stones, a lot of water and a copy of the score. There was also a letter which had Erland Cooper’s phone number in it. It said ‘If anybody finds this please phone me and let me know.’
“We had to dry a lot of it out, the score had sort of separated, but luckily we could still read the number.”
Mr Rhodes added: “We called him from the car and he thought we were pulling his leg, so he got me to send him a photograph of everything. He was thrilled that we’d found it.”
Once they made the discovery at Brinkie’s Brae, the couple realised the spot had been very well thought out.
Mrs Rhodes said: “He had mentioned that the music was to commemorate George Mackay Brown, who was from Stromness, so there was a big connection.
“We found it under Brinkie’s Brain, which is again another Brown reference as he had a column and book of essays called Under Brinkie’s Brae.
“So, it all made perfect sense.”
A one-off live performance
The album, titled Carve the Runes Then be Content with Silence, was inspired by the work of Orkney poet George Mackay Brown.
The quote used for the title is also engraved on Brown’s headstone.
Mr Cooper plans to release the album in June 2024 – three years after the burial – keeping every imperfection which has developed during its time underground.
He will hold a one-off performance at the Barbican Centre in London on June 8, 2024, to perform the album exactly as it sounds “from the earth”.
Mr and Mrs Rhodes have been invited along as the musician’s special guests.
“It’ll be lovely to go and hear the performance,” they said. “We’re looking forward to celebrating with him.”
Conversation