Interactive Poll - Field Recordings

Nick:  Birds and the morning, just go together.  Imagine a world without birdsong.  It would be a sad thing, indeed.  May we never see that day dawn.  Cronofonia “Dawn (reprise)”  Shakuhachi type flute, then moves into more orchestral territory.  I have a feeling I’m going to like this.  Yep, electric guitar softly comes in, then drums and the rest of the band.  Flute swirls in and around as the band steadily plays along.  Surprised by a male vocalist, then a violin (and perhaps more strings).  Plenty of dynamics in the piece, as it falls back to minimal, rises again in a crescendo, then moves, as you’d stated, into pure birdsong for over a full minute. Lovely.  Henika “Dawn Chorus”   This one starts the opposite way, with birds at the fore, and indeed, throughout.  Kind of a quirky, lilting female vocalist, this is a style that is enjoying a lot of popularity right now.  She uses herself in chorus also, as well as the birds, creating her own dawn chorus.  Upbeat, like a promising morning.  Henika’s video of dawn chorus on Tiritiri Matangi Island:  This will have to wait and play off and on as I have time, I’m assuming out of competition.  I do like to have natural background sounds esp at this time of year, windows closed on the West Coast of the US for the most part.  Pie Are Squared “Heard From a Distance”  Underpinning electronic wash sound, then another type of wash, gentle, lapping waves.  The changing sounds are quite subtle, but do build in intensity and volume, very slowly.  A sound is added that at first reminds me of conch sounds, but resolves into more of an electric guitar/violin sort of sustain.  This becomes almost sonar-like, then, fairly abruptly, ends.  Henika Extras:  “Birdie Sings The Blues”  Birds start, then plucked double bass.  Here she is more sultry, much more of a blues/jazz kind of vocal.  Slide guitar comes in, making it more Delta/folky.  This one I do prefer, to the first one of hers.  Let’s see how the final one goes.  “Forest Nocturne”  This sounds more like where I live, in summer.  Twin Peaks country, lol, with those fingersnaps.  More of the sultry vocal, with some wild choral ornamentation and some weeeeeeee sorts of sounds.  A bit more quirky jazz here.  Faves here were Chronofonia and Birdie Sings The Blues.