Virginia Astley - The Singing Places

"The Singing Places – music of the upper reaches, consists of five tracks that cross fade into each other. The music interweaves with field recordings made in different locations on the upper reaches of the Thames. The titles reveal where these places are: Hobbs Boathouse, Lapwings at Shifford, Summer Rain & Bells at Dorchester, Water over Stones and Grafton Dawn. The field recordings were made either in the evenings or early hours of the day and are the essence of the tracks. My old friend from Moulsford, Ted Morse played the baritone horn and Jon Bowyer, my lock keeping friend played the harmonica. I’m very grateful to my daughter, Florence for playing her beautiful harp. I’m playing my dad’s old piano, my flute, and a field harmonium I came across on my travels. I used a Sony PCM D100 for the outdoor recordings and recorded the music on my laptop. It was mixed at Mill Farm Studio in Bradford Abbas with Tom Jobling. The birds in order of appearance are: chiffchaff, moorhen, woodpigeon, greenfinch, little grebe, lapwings, oystercatcher, Canada geese (mixed in with the lapwings), tawny owl, collared dove, robin, jackdaw, blackbird, house sparrows, carrion crow, rook, magpie, wren ... blackbird/wren exchange."