8 Tracks: A Field Recording Special with Leafcutter John

I tried to make the field recordings on my new album tell the story of my journey down the Norfolk Coast. Here Hildegard Westerkamp takes us on a brilliantly narrated sound-walk across Kits Beach away from the throbbing city into a waking dream of microscopic barnicle sounds. I’ve so much to learn…

I didn’t know Sarina Leah’s music before making this 8 tracks list. The Soundcloud algorithm auto-suggested it and blooming ‘ek it’s a total stunner. Looking forward to hearing more from her. Thanks Soundcloud!

It’s like a dream come true. Wandering through an abandoned seaside resort in the Californian Desert. The sea dried up long ago leaving just the mangled iron framed skeletons of decrepit structures. Then you see it, an abandoned piano, just waiting…. Oh and you’re organised enough to have brought your recording equipment. Lauren Sarah Hayes lived that particular dream but without the following video and audio evidence I don’t think anyone would believe it ever happened…

I love the idea of knitting with sound and I happen to own a rather lovely Greek goat-bell so this video really resonates with me. Full documentation of her project can be found here. Felicity also has many brilliant field recordings on her Soundcloud.

Field recordings, you go out and make some recordings, take them back to your studio and have your merry way with them. MortonUnderwood (David Morton & Sam Underwood) turn this idea on its head by preparing sounds in the studio and taking them out to play along with existing sounds in the environment. Genius!

In January this year JunkLight suffered a cardiac arrest in London. Luckily he was kept alive by Marines from Wellington Barracks and subsequently treated in St Thomas’ Hospital where for 3 weeks he made recordings from his bed of his new environment. This music is made from those recordings and it’s remarkable how evocative and beautiful it is.

On ‘Dunes’ I used the sound of wind blowing on a wire fence. We’d had a really long, uncomfortable walk along the pebbled beach near Weybourne. When we
stopped to rest I heard a quiet but fascinating sound which after some searching turned out to be wind on the wire fence which runs along the beach. I used a pair of my contact mics to record its eerie whistle. I managed to find a similar recording on Youtube by Tristan Louth-Robins.

This track exudes the kind of soft hissy warmth I associate with tape recording. So I was not hugely surprised when Luke told me that he’d constructed it out of field recordings made wandering around Tokyo with a Fisher Price tape recorder. For those of you too young to know, the Fisher Price tape recorder was one of the most advanced recording instruments available in the 1980’s and far out of the reach of mere amateur recordists.

Using leftover material from a film about rough sleepers in Elephant and Castle Bryars made a 13 bar loop which he copied onto a reel of tape at Leicester University where he was working. While the tape was copying he popped out for a cup of coffee leaving the door between the tape room and the painting studio open. Gavin to describes what he came back to find:
“When I came back I found the normally lively room unnaturally subdued. People were moving about much more slowly than usual and a few were sitting alone, quietly weeping.
I was puzzled until I realised that the tape was still playing and that they had been overcome by the old man’s singing. This convinced me of the emotional power of the music and of the possibilities offered by adding a simple, though gradually evolving, orchestral accompaniment that respected the homeless man’s nobility and simple faith. Although he died before he could hear what I had done with his singing, the piece remains as an eloquent, but understated testimony to his spirit and optimism.”