Field Song is a collection of songs for the single voice, sung live to tape out in the field with the birds, insects, frogs, plants, water, and wind. To me, it represents perhaps the most distilled statement of my relationship to the other-than-human beings who share the land with us. Rather than just singing 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 them, “Field Song” is a direct, open-handed collaboration 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 these beings. To that effect, in the liner notes each song has a recording date, location, and species lists for every creature/collaborator that is audible. The entire album was recorded to tape on a NAGRA 4.2, the classic field recordist’s machine.
Field Song is easily the most difficult project I’ve undertaken, and presented challenges in finding appropriately remote locations, timing the recordings with the natural cycles, and executing the music and recording well. Most tracks needed to be recorded at sunrise. That meant waking up at 2am and singing around 5am in a variety of conditions. However, as you will hear, the land responded in ways that I couldn’t have imagined. Each recording had its own distinct drama that unfolded around me as I sang. I already mentioned the geese taking off in “Mirror” in an earlier post. While recording “Daybreak” I sang the words “with the dew and the waters / gathered in this morning”. I was indeed singing just as the sun was beginning to show in the sky, and at that moment a soft gust of wind blew, rustling the leaves of the bur oak above me and audibly dropping dew onto the leaves below. The album is replete with such moments, which I will continue to share in future posts.
Field Song is out August 9th digitally and on vinyl. Listen to “Mirror” and “Prairie Light” and preorder now on Bandcamp.
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