WHAT does a memory sound like? How do you share it with someone else? A new collection of Highland-inspired tunes aims to answer these questions.

Composer Hilary de Vries describes her 70-tune compendium as “love songs to the Black Isle”, which she’s called home for 20 years.

Despite playing music before her move from Leith, de Vries only began composing after relocating for husband Martin’s work. Since then, she’s been using harp, bagpipe and more to interpret the landscape and her experiences there through waltzes, marches and jigs. Her new Black Isle Collection is filled with pieces that tell the story of the area’s waterways, churches, places and people.

It’s the latest of six books of music she’s delivered and, she says, she wants listeners to get a sense of spaces and experiences she’s had. “A song starts like a tickle in the back of my head,” she says. “I’ll get an urge to pick up an instrument and the song will start to emerge. You can have all the atmosphere. It’s like you’re translating everything you’ve seen into the music.

“I really hope people will get a sense of my memories from it. I’m really proud of this new book and to finally be able to share the music that the Black Isle has inspired over so many years.”

Fiddler Duncan Chisholm has backed the collection, saying the pieces “give affirmation to a deep love of the landscape and nature of the Highlands”.

He added: “These tunes in particular emphasise a love for the Black Isle and the people that live there.”

While the individual tunes date back over two decades, de Vries says this collection may have taken far longer to put together if not for lockdown.

Enforced time at home gave her the time needed to prepare the works for the page and the result is now available via hilarydevries.bandcamp.com and a range of retailers from Avoch to Ullapool.