sam mcloughlin & david chatton barker: environmental meditation music

Created and conducted by Sam McLoughlin (N.Racker, Samandtheplants) and David Chatton Barker (Folklore Tapes), Environmental Meditation Music (EMM) is a collaborative project with the natural world, where handmade instruments are placed in the environment and are played by the wind, rain, grass, snow, and rivers. The instruments capture and channel the innate rhythms and frequencies of the elements, converting them into a fluid and detailed blend of modulating drones, birdsong, dripping water, and the sounds of distant polyrhythmic drumming, overtone flutes, and ringing chimes. The instruments include river harps, water gongs, clock chimes, and Aeolian flutes, and are made using a variety of materials ranging from guitar strings, rubber bands, saw blades, and jars, many of which are amplified using contact microphones. Since 2017 the duo has collected many hours of recorded material, which has been hewn into a long form digital edition and this two-sided, 46-minute long-playing record. For the record sleeve, a paintbrush was suspended on a branch using string. The sleeve was cut and placed upon a table with string passed around four bamboo canes in order to keep the brush contained above the card. Windy days were chosen to animate the brush. The brush was dipped into black drawing ink and begun at the middle of the card. Lastly the sleeve was left under rain drops. In total, 305 card sleeves were created using this process and so each edition of the record is unique.