Introduction from Freight
We discovered Zoë Irvine and Mark Vernon's work via an early incarnation of Peroxide Bond (track 28). As predominantly visual people, working with two of Scotland's leading sound artists was an exciting proposition.

So with the kind support of Arts & Business Scotland, we were delighted to commission Zoë and Mark to make a full length version called Hairwaves. When you listen to Hairwaves, many of the voices you'll hear are our own. It turns out that the employees of both Freight and our sister agency The Bridge had much to say on the topic.

Having been involved throughout, Freight senior designer Alison Stewart, has brought Hairwaves into the visual realm. She took the opportunity to commission Dutch artist Danielle Lemaire and includes several of her extraordinarily hirsute pencil drawings here. We hope you find Hairwaves both an aural and tactile feast.

HAIRWAVES A Cautionary Tale
A friend once explained to me that it is essential to dress up for a trip to the hairdressers, to attempt to express the style of what you're looking for in the cut, clothes & colours that could be visually de-coded by the hairdresser, something beyond words to assist the communication, fraught as it is. This project was born prior to this top tip, after yet another brutal scalping at the hands of a Dundee hairdresser. Mark and I had decided to collaborate, but didn't yet know what we would do. I was not concentrating fully as we discussed various ideas, irrationally distracted by the undesired and uncooperative HAIRCUT. And so it was that in 2001 we began to record hairdressers. Mark, not having such a personal bug bare with barbers soon broadened the scope to pet grooming, wig making and the paranormal. We've collected much material, from anecdotes blowing hot and cold on the subject of hairdryers, to accounts of the bald facts on barbers. We have snipped and textured, layered, added some highlights and brushed away the clippings so we can now offer up this
cautionary tale.

Zoë Irvine, Edinburgh, 2006