JH. The Secret Life of Trees
Track List:
1. A Gracious Plenty (10:09)
2. The Secret Life of Trees (23:56)
3. A Passion in Eden (2:28)
4. Deirdre's Confession (10:10)
5. After the Fire (5:57)
6. Grüne Lunge (15:13)
[1] A Gracious Plenty
"There
is work required of all who pass away. The Dead control the seasons.
[...] The ones who died strong push the rivers downstream, pull at
clouds and keep the sky in motion. [...] The ones who died shy string
spiderwebs, almost invisible. The Dead are generous with their gifts to
the living." (Sheri Reynolds, A Gracious Plenty)
Digital multitrack recording (Tracktion)
The recording software was only used like a tape machine.
There is no timing quantisation. The Synthi Clone ostinato was
laid down first. Then the arpeggiator / sequencer parts were
sync'd by audio trigger (env. follower etc.) from this track,
to keep the timing "alive".
Audio Sample (933k)
[2] The Secret Life of Trees
I
wanted to make music about trees for a long time. About the thousands
of little creatures, insects, bacteria, fungi, that live in the shelter
of a tree, in its bark, in its roots, in the soil beneath the tree.
This is the music of a hidden world, a dark world.
"Live in the studio" DAT recording; no overdubs.
Audio Sample (909k)
[3] A Passion in Eden
"I
spent one summer as a tree, standing out in the garden spreading my
fingers and feeling the wind go thru them. It wasn't that I wanted the
body of a tree instead of my own; I wanted to think like a tree,
stable, rhythmic thoughts [...]. I planned a summer of green
peacefulness and of sifting nothing more subtle than the rain."
(Joannne Greenberg, Summering)
"Live in the studio" DAT recording; no overdubs.
Audio Sample (249k)
[4] Deirdre's Confession
"Deirdre.
Cry for Deirdre. That Father Mattingly had done, and no one but God
would ever know how much or why, though Father Mattingly himself would
never forget it. All his days, he'd remember the story that a little
child had poured out to him in the hot wooden cell of the confessional,
a little girl who was to spend her life rotting away in that
vine-shrouded house while the world outside galloped on to its own
damnation." (Anne Rice, The Witching Hour)
"Live in the studio" DAT recording; no overdubs.
Audio Sample (1.3M)
[5] After the Fire
Picture the blackened remains of a wasteful forest fire.
The first sprouts of Green appearing afterwards, and
Life reclaiming the burnt area once again.
"Live in the studio", Looping Delay to DAT recording; no overdubs.
Audio Sample (920k)
[6] Grüne Lunge
This is a song for the rain forest.
The wold is breathing.
The wold is suffocating.
Instruments:
JH-720 synthesizer: solo voice
Oberheim OB-8: Arpeggiator
Technics SX-WSA1 physical modeling synth: choir
Yamaha VL7 physical modeling synthesizer: cello
Line 6 DL-4 looping delay
Korg ES-1 thru random S&H modulated stereo phaser: drums
TC-Electronics D-Two delay
Quantec QRS reverb
"Live in the studio" DAT recording; no overdubs.
Audio Sample (936k)
Don't miss my other CDs,
"Of Eagles
And Prophets", "Dark November"
and "Holiday
in Purgatory"
BACK to my homepage
Copyright J. Haible
(C) 2006