Disquiet

In this hour-plus recording, C.P. McDill mixes slow, long, held tones with raw nature sounds (MP3). The contrast is between the gently meandering music and the inclement weather just outside. The immediate impression is of a church organist stuck in a storm, and keeping himself busy until the storm passes. The rain has a nice spatial dimension, providing further depth and contrast between the nearby drops and the distant thunder. And when birds chirp, as they do on occasion, they provide a kind of hybrid point of view: on the one hand, they’re part of the field-recording half of the equation, but on the other they’re certainly trying to stay out of the rain and they’re making their own birdsong, so they have just as much in common with the “musical” portion of the track. More info at the releasing label, webbedhandrecords.com, and at the recording’s page at archive.org. More on McDill at cpmcdill.com.

By Marc Weidenbaum