Martin Lloyd Howard’s “Highland Mist” is a fresh and unusual chapter in the artist’s collection. This is an original instrumental single, based on Howard’s experimentation with DADGAD tuning on a Tanglewood steel-string acoustic guitar, to evoke the peaceful mystery and rugged nature of the Scottish Highlands.
Intriguingly, he's gone for an instrument that's a change from his regular approach. Instead of his fifty-year-old, handmade classical nylon guitar, he chose the Tanglewood steel-string guitar to provide what he describes as a genuine Celtic ambiance through the music. And that shift in set-up became a defining aspect of the piece’s identity.
“Highland Mist” was an experimental piece, starting with the search for a fingerstyle chord sequence that suggested the Highlands. From then on, the instrumental grew around the ambiance that those noises created, and the guitar became the main voice of the music.
There are no vocals or verbal storytelling to speak of, therefore, the song’s instrumental nature is the only way to convey a sense of place. The DADGAD tuning helps form that identity, contributing to a sound tied to Celtic musical traditions while also anchored in Howard’s own explorations.