Neil Brookshire’s short film “Flesh and Blood” premiered this month at the Door Kinetic Arts Festival in Wisconsin. It’s an inspired take on a classic theme that boils down to a single question. Watch the film to find your own answers. You can hear some of my music in it.
Moth concert tonight
Solaris and the moths will be performing tonight at 7:30 at Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.
I would like to thank Flavia Barbosa of the Department of Biology at Lake Forest College for providing the wax moths used in this performance. Thanks also to Sharlene Santana of the University of Washington Department of Biology and my sister Lydia Rice for providing bat detectors to capture the sounds of the moths’ wing beats. Additional thanks to Michael Greenfield and Hayward Spangler for their earlier help and inspiration.
Photo from Wednesday’s dress rehearsal.
Solaris Vocal Ensemble: The Explorer's Edge
Giselle Wyers leads the 13-voice Solaris Vocal Ensemble (Photo: Joanne DePue)
“The Explorer’s Edge” features works about the experience of exploration, by land, sea, in the Arctic regions, in flight, or at the edges of the universe. Jeff Rice, guest composer, premieres his work Madame Moth in homage to Pauline Oliveros’ Bye Bye Butterfly, and will include live processing of the ultrasonic wing beats of wax moths alongside the voices of Solaris. Peter Bracilano, lighting designer, will create various atmospheres in the resonant space of Good Shepherd Center.
New York Times Magazine 'Voyages' issue wins Ellie award
I was thrilled to see that last year’s New York Times Magazine ‘Voyages’ issue won the 2019 Ellie award for Digital Innovation. The magazine paired photos and sounds from around the world. I contributed one of the audio recordings (see track 5).
Free Yellowstone recordings
Audio producers from around the country are starting to discover a treasure trove of free recordings from Yellowstone National Park. The recordings were made in part through a cooperative agreement between Yellowstone-based recordist Jennifer Jerrett and the Acoustic Atlas at Montana State University where I am program director. We worked together to create the Acoustic Atlas’ Yellowstone library, which continues to upload more recordings every year.
Check out this story in the online publication Live for Live Music:
Yellowstone audio samples keep National Parks’ spirit alive during government shutdown
Esri features 'Sounds of the Wild West' story map
There’s a nice blog on the Esri site about the Sounds of the Wild West story map. It offers a behind the scene look at how Esri worked with my group at the Acoustic Atlas to feature sounds of four of Montana’s major ecosystems.
New story map
I’m really proud of this collaboration with the Esri Story Maps team. We worked together to incorporate sounds into a story map featuring four of Montana’s major ecosystems. You can scroll through the map below or see the original at: https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2018/sounds-of-the-wild-west/index.html.
Tidal forest
This tidal forest, where a mixture of salt and fresh water flows through dense stands of evergreens, is now one of the last places of its kind. I took this video at Otter Island on the Snohomish River with the help of scientists at NOAA and a little inspiration from Joseph Conrad. The music is an outtake from the Flesh and Blood sessions.
Music for the film Flesh and Blood
Keep an eye out for Neil Brookshire’s new short film Flesh and Blood, “an intimate tale of secrets, fear, redemption, and time.” I wrote some music for it.
Appearing in this week's New York Times Magazine
It was an honor to contribute to this week’s special issue of The New York Times Magazine. As Adweek reports, the issue will be “heard, not read.” The issue is now online and you can hear my recording of the Pando Clone, a unique stand of genetically identical aspens that constitute one of the world’s largest living organisms.
