Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker: North America, Winds Across a Continent CD Track Listing
Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker
North America, Winds Across a Continent
North America, Winds Across a Continent\nNature Recordings, Quiet Places Collection\nGordon Hempton, Sound Tracker\n\nTitled selections are actual events presented in "real time" without mixing. However, selections do overlap briefly. Listed times are actual lengths of selections, including transitions. Stereo speaker listening produces enhanced depth of field. Headphone listening creates an amphitheater of three dimensions.\n\nEach species of plant makes its own sound in the wind. Long needled pines produce a low whispy roar, while short needled spruce produce a higher pitched hum; the quaking aspen shimmers while the thick coat of grass on a hillside will curl ethereal wreaths around the listener. But this is only the beginning of the joy of listening to wind; each pattern of vegetation is an orchestra waiting to come alive in the winds that inevitably come.\n\nNature Recordist: Gordon Hempton - The Sound Tracker\nDigitally recorded on location in Binaural Stereo\nPost-Production: Albert Swanson, Seattle, WA\nExecutive Producer: Richard Hooper\nAssociate Producer: Sharon Hooper\nGraphic Design: Laura Eagan\nPhotography: David Muench (Grass/Dunes/Mountains)\nand Gary Braasch (Field of Windswept Grass)\n\nNature Recordings\nProduced and Distributed
Category
: Music
Tags
: music songs tracks data
- Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Pacific Surf (02:35)
We begin on the western shore with surf.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Sea Breeze (01:37)
And then the surf-like sound of a sea breeze. Sometimes we are surprised by visitations. In this case, the curious flight of a large fly explores the boughs of a dune pine; possibly looking for food.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Night Wind (03:57)
Blown east with the wind once again, we hear the night winds.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Coyote Grassland (04:53)
A coyote, or song dog, as it is sometimes called, signs the air as the tall grasses blow amid chanting layers of crickets and flowing water.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Thunder Cloud (02:14)
We move to a brewing thunderstorm.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - SageWind (02:20)
The delicate balance between the omnipresence of the thunder and the high pitched, long chirp of crickets and flowing water is a vanishing moment of wild listening. Sage Wind creates the transition farther east.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Rattlesnake Canyon (02:45)
Rattlesnake Canyon. On that day I had wandered up the canyon to follow the song of a bird unknown to me. Looking up, not down, I failed to avoid the rattlesnake. But once trapped, I decided to make the best of my predicament and record its picture. Wonder - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Aspen Grove (02:39)
At the Aspen Grove, while the leaves are practically silent, the crow is not. Each leaf is on a long stalk that moves in the wind with little resistance.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Short Grasswind (01:25)
The short grasses of the western prairie make a distinct whipping sound.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Tern Springs (03:16)
Farther east, we come to the much lower pitch sound of wind through reeds growing beside a spring. Terns are flying back and forth to spy a fish to feed upon. The fish in turn swim back and forth near the surface to find an insect to feed upon. Both are s - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Juniperwind (04:40)
Next we move to Juniperwind and hear two songbirds during a blustery dawn. The only way to listen without getting blown away is to watch the leaves -- by climbing around and in the trees, it is possible to find still leaves and an ideal seat.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Meadowlark (02:11)
Moving farther east, we arrive to hear the song of the meadowlark.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Strong Winds of the Prairie (02:18)
The Strong Winds of the Prairie.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Thunder Song (07:38)
We hear Thunder Song exactly as it occured... a balance between the heavens and winged voices of a life. Notice how the bird's song changes and concludes.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Bare Branch Wind with Singing Frogs (03:39)
Only a few hours later, but at the same location, the place changes its tune. It is night, the winds blow through the bare branches of an oak tree with a roar. We hear the voices of amphibians... rather than croak or bark or bellow, they sing!\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Tall Winds of Ancient Hardwood Forest (09:47)
Farther east, we enter an ancient hardwood forest. Tall winds blow high overhead in the forest canopy. Dawn arrives once again, in this eternal music of new life.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Palmetto Wind (02:54)
Finally, we arrive at our terminus in the palmetto leaves of the eastern shore.\n - Gordon Hempton, Sound Tracker - Atlantic Surf (02:46)
Atlantic Surf presents the conclusion of this aural odyssey.\n
