***SPECIAL EDITION OF ONLY 20 COPIES*** Packaged in a black cardboard jacket with a 3x3" matte photo sticker (printed by David Tagg), custom text sticker work and an in-house duplicated/printed white disc.
Includes unlimited streaming of Earthworks II
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Limited 2nd Edition CD-R
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Packaged in a windowed white cardboard jacket containing a glossy 4x5" photographic print insert and custom text sticker work, with an in-house duplicated/printed white recordable 5" disc.
Includes unlimited streaming of Earthworks II
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
After being invited to the 2015 edition of Cold Fiction's ongoing Futur[e]cho, I began a session with a few drum machines, a heap of FX boxes and a two-minute long reel-to-reel tape loop of a calmer horn refrain from Smetana's classic "Mà Vlast (My Homeland)". In short, a similar setup as the Verdant Acre excursions, though much different by the time I finished.
In my usual fashion of aural degradation and textural processing, I treated the tape loop heavily with all sorts of eroding and elongating, however no matter what I applied to the loop, the end result would sound beautiful. This became a challenge - overdoing the compression, smearing flange and phasing and detuned chorus everywhere, almost acting recklessly, abusing the tape and testing the strength of the foundation Smetana established in 1879. No matter what I tried, the music defiantly shined that much brighter, resilient beneath the analog loss, poignantly echoing across time the stately horns of the past.
Once I realized this fact, the sessions settled into a calm relationship of understanding and love. A soft conversation with an old friend. My choice of the name for the session, before even starting it - Redoubt - along with the source of my tape loop, came into focus as a subconscious celebration of contentment at home. I peppered the tracks with field recordings of my daughter playing with my wife and I in our verdant backyard. I imagined the redoubts in my mind not as fortresses built for military defense, but as safe havens, well worn from warm sun and embracing winds, built to stand up to the ravages of time and gravity by craftsmen long since forgotten.
credits
released October 7, 2015
W/P by Brian Grainger. Recorded at Botany Bay, May-June 2015. Mastered by The Analog Botanist. This is Milieu Music number ABX46. Cover photograph taken by Brian in Orlando, Florida, December 2014.
A spacious 2.5 hour soundtrack for Eufloria, an ambient strategy game currently available on Steam, Nintendo Switch and the Playstation Network. Coppice Halifax
A triple-album "beginner's guide" with 50 tracks selected from the first 10 years of Milieu releases. As apt a starting point as you're likely to find. Coppice Halifax
Excellent long form dronescapes from Brian! My favorite release in the CH catalog. It is is a lot of music to digest, but well worth the time it will take to listen to the whole album. It is the biggest box set I have ever bought, with 24 discs! They come in a binder with 24 photos, one for each disc. This physical release is stunning! I highly recommend this release despite the the price tag. I also love the cover photo of the flowers!! Kris Knab