The Making of “Sol Caravan”

BUY OR STREAM THE ALBUM ON BANDCAMP HERE : https://scottarchibaldmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-id-project-sol-caravan

“Scott’s latest id project album “Sol Caravan” is psych rock based, North African/Maghreb influenced, globetrotter themed but genre defying, with drummer and percussionist Simon Webster (UK/France), and Sufi singer Mouna Eddrou (Morocco/France).

It also features UK musicians Justin Adams (Tinariwen, Robert Plant, Juldeh Camara) on guitar and n’goni , John Baggott (Robert Plant, Massive Attack) on keyboards and synthesizer, Howard Gill on drums with UK producer/engineer Steve Evans ( Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees).”

My journey up to the making of Sol Caravan and the final recording of all these songs started when I connected with Simon Webster, a master percussionist schooled in North African/Maghreb rhythms and other Arabic, Asian and Afro-Cuban styles. In early 2020, I was supposed to travel to Morocco to stay in Meknes, Morocco with him and his partner, Mouna Eddrou, a Moroccan Sufi singer, for a study and research trip exploring Morocco’s rich musical culture.

Unfortunately, the trip was cancelled due to the pandemic. Fast forward to 2022, I ended up restarting my trip, going to Morocco in late May of that year, but at that point Simon and Mouna had moved to France. Instead of my original plan, I ended up in Essaouria, a town on the south coast of Morocco , where a lot of the Gnaoua trance music tradition comes from and lives.

I had a plan of going there and studying the guembri ( Moroccan sintar) and ended up doing so with local guembri master and luthier Hassan Laroussi for 12 days. A bit later in the year I was in contact with Simon Webster. He had followed my Morocco trip on social media and we talked about connecting and collaborating on some music.

He suggested coming out to Périgueux, France, where he is connected with a local community recording studio called Sans Reserve. In late September of that year, I travelled to Périgueux to do a creation/recording residency at Sans Reserve, collaborating on 3 songs with Simon on drums and percussion, his partner Mouna on vocals with Arthur DeCossette engineering. Those songs were released on an E.P. but ultimately they ended up being remixed and released on Sol Caravan. (See more about recording in France in my 2025 blog post : Cross – Cultural Fusion : My Creative Journey in France ).

About those 3 songs (The Sans Reserve Sessions) :

 “The Blue Door” 

It is inspired by North African and Gnawa (Gnaoua) music combined with some blues and folk elements.  It is about getting lost in the medina in Essaouria , Morocco. All of the doors were painted blue, and I spent quite some time trying to find my door where I was staying wandering around in what seemed like a maze or a labyrinth trying to find my “blue door.” I came to realize that I had past by it several times unknowingly.  

 “People Of Beauty”

It was inspired by Simon’s drum and percussion loop called Funky Rai , which brought out  some of my funk and latin rock influences on bass as well as some dirty, fusion guitar amidst Simon’s funky drumming and layers of percussion. The title “People Of Beauty” is inspired by a translation of Mouna’s vocals, with lyric excerpts from Jel Lelli, a traditional Gnawa folk piece which alludes to the beauty of the human spirit in Sufism. 

“Road to Mandalay”

It is based on some riffs that I wrote years ago on a Turkish mandolin that I bought in a music shop in Istanbul during my travels in 2012. From there I traveled to the Cappadocia region of Turkey and came up with the original riff while jamming on the mandolin inside an ancient chapel carved into the rock.

My journey carried on from Turkey and to the mountains of Myanmar, where I ended up taking a journey on an old train that had one of the highest elevations in the world, and then one of the hairiest bus rides I’ve ever had back down to the northern city of Mandalay.  This tune was finally brought to life and realized by Simon’s layers of percussion and Mouna’s ethereal vocals, resulting in a fusion of Arabic, African and Pan- Asian influences. 

Real World Studios

In 2023 and 2024 , I attended the Real World Studios producers camp in Bath UK , where I met session musicians Justin Adams (guitar/n’goni), John Baggott (keyboards) and Howard Gill( drums), with whom I collaborated with both times I attended the camp (except Dan Neale in place of Howie in 2024) and who are all featured on Sol Caravan along with Simon on “Taksim Nights,” Modern Man and El Fna , with Justin and John with Dan Neale on Cellphone/Nature Jam, a remix of a song that was created as part of the Real World camp in 2024 along with producer and mixing engineer Steve Evans – who would ultimately become co – producer and mixing engineer on “Sol Caravan.”

The Fortress Studios sessions 2025

In late 2024, I contacted Steve Evans about working with him on some music at his new studio that he had told me about while I was attending the producers camp 2024. We ended up making an arrangement for me to come back to the UK in April 2025 to record for 5 days at his new studio The Fortress, in Melksham, Wiltshire UK.

For the first 3 days , we worked on the songs “Floating,” a song about isolation and the impending doom of climate change, the remixing of “Cellphone,” and then Simon Webster came in from France on the 3rd day and recorded drums on Floating and “Le Caravanserais,” an ambient/trance/groove tune – a newer collaboration between myself and Simon and Mouna, some of which was recorded after the Fortress sessions with a return to Sans Reserve Studios in France – (see my 2025 blog post : Cross – Cultural Fusion : My Creative Journey in France ).

On day 4 and 5, I had arranged for Justin Adams, John Baggott and Howie Gill to come into the studio to record and film these three songs (see youtube video at the top of this page) :

Taksim Nights (Live at The Fortress)

An upbeat instrumental rock/fusion tune with some middle eastern psych rock vibes that was written around some of Simon’s drum and percussion loops. The title was inspired by an interesting night I had in the Taksim area of Istanbul during Turkish holidays back when I was travelling there in 2012.

Modern Man (Live at The Fortress)

A driving Maghreb rock tune in 6/8 with some lyrics/spoken word that call for pushback against the oligarchy, unity, peace and an end to world hunger.

El Fna (Live at the Fortress)

I came up with a 9/4 rhythm/riff that I wrote on mandolin intended to be an outro section for Modern Man, but Justin Adams interpreted it on n’goni and it eventually became a whole new piece that I feel we all wrote together on the spot and recorded in one take. The title was inspired by Jemaa El Fna Square in Marrakech, a place I visited while in Morocco on the last day of Ramadan. I feel like the song evokes some of the sounds and the desert trance music that I experienced that night.