Kinfolk epiphany

Playing in their ancestral home of Aberdeen led to a new musical direction for sister act Purple Pilgrims and a new name.

- ALANA RAE

Embracing their Scottish heritage wasn't always the plan for songwriting sisters Clementine and Valentine Nixon. Before writing their new album, The Coin that Broke the Fountain Floor, the pair had been on a big, hectic European tour under old band name Purple Pilgrims. However, unbeknown to them, it was to be their final outing under that title. The shows started in early 2020, then, on the Scottish leg of the tour, the Coromandel-based sisters headed to their ancestral home of Aberdeen.

"We knew we had quite deep family connections there, but we were in the tour mindset and weren't thinking about reaching out to anyone," says Valentine.

Before the Aberdeen show, their promoter took them both out to watch support act, Ella Davidson and Gayle Brogan, saying something special had been arranged.

Valentine says, "They did this amazing rendition of one of our great-grandfather Davie Stewart's songs. [He] was a musician in folk circles in Aberdeen." After the show, they explored the old part of Aberdeen, looking at the places where he'd played and the street corners on which he'd busked.

"We thought we were very much on our own path musically. And then there was this collision of our ancestors and history with what we had been building over the past few years ourselves." Valentine continues, "We had this spiritual experience that was all the more special because we weren't looking for it."

Clementine says it released feelings they had about why they were playing music in the first place - and there was an invisible thread of sorts to their ancestors.

"We were being led on this path that we thought we'd chosen ourselves ... it sounds a bit over the top, but it did feel that way."