NYC: Field Recordings - Vol. 1 | Ian Battenfield Headley

NYC: Field Recordings - Vol. 1

by Ian Battenfield Headley

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of NYC: Field Recordings - Vol. 1, EVERYWHERE, Plum Island, Composite Units, Passages, Burchfield, and Vinalhaven. , and , .

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1.	Construction Through a Lens #1 12:43	info	buy track
2.	UES walk to The Met 11:10	info	buy track
3.	Five Genres at Union Square 07:46	info	buy track
4.	Quick severe summer thunderstorm as heard from a bedroom in Brooklyn 07:19	info	buy track
5.	6th Ave & 18th St. (Homage to John Cage) 08:25	info	buy track
6.	Columbus Circle Jazz / Lost at Times Square-42nd St. 25:15	info	buy track
7.	7 o'clock 06:11	info	buy track
8.	Construction Through a Lens #2 21:28	info	buy track

about

Accompanying the shutdown of the many aspects of daily life in New York, a rare quietness has fallen over the city. This collection of field recordings are some of my favorite sounds of the city as we knew them: punchy bucket drummers, squeal of car breaks, fragments of conversations, lethargic truck hauls, juxtaposition of subway musicians, late-night HVAC ambiances...They are exciting, loud, and endlessly restless, but also almost empty at moments.

Two recordings I’m most fond of are: Five Genres at Union Square and Columbus Circle Jazz / Lost at Time Square-42nd St. In these recordings I have walked around while recording so as to mix the sound of musicians against each other and against other sounds in the station. At times, their rhythms and harmonies blend in coherence. At other times, the beat fades into the rhythm of the trains. Sometimes, they just fade away, and then you hear the “shape” of the station. These are the types of moments that a field recording can capture and frame, revealing the ways that sound changes in the city’s presence.

This current period of life has also added a new soundmark to the city: the collective expression of gratitude to those on the front line everyday. The penultimate track, 7 o'clock, was recorded last month in Sunnyside, Queens (where I live) features the flurry of appreciation to health care and essential workers.

Putting together this album and listening to all the familiar sounds has brought me some calm. I hope it for the listeners it will be a steadfast reminder that the city will recover and return to its unabashed pandemonium and grow a new understanding for the complex and beautiful sounds surrounding us.

credits

released May 4, 2020

Recording Notes:

All tracks recorded by Ian Battenfield Headley

Construction Through a Lens
Date: December 17, 2014
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Equipment: Tascam DR-07

UES walk to The Met
Date: June 3, 2015
Location: Upper East Side
Equipment: DPA 4060, Zoom H4N

Five Genres at Union Square
Date: December 18, 2014
Location: Union Square, Manhattan
Equipment: DPA 4060, Zoom H4N

Quick severe summer thunderstorm as heard from a bedroom in Brooklyn
Date: June 23, 2015
Location: Bedroom in Brooklyn
Equipment: Audio Technica BP-4025, Fostex FR2LE

6th Ave & 18th St. (Homage to John Cage)
Date: December 18, 2018
Location: 6th Ave and 18th St, Manhattan
Equipment: DPA 4060, Zoom H4N

Columbus Circle Jazz / Lost at Times Square-42nd St.
Date: December 1, 2018
Location: 6th Ave and 18th St, Manhattan
Equipment: DPA 4060, Zoom H4N

7 o'clock
Date: April 14, 2020
Location: Sunnyside, Queens
Equipment: Audio Technica BP-4025, Fostex FR2LE

Construction Through a Lens #2
Date: June 14, 2015
Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Equipment: Tascam DR-07

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about

Ian Battenfield Headley New York, New York

Ian Battenfield Headley is a NYC-based composer. His music has been described as, exploring the, ”Beautiful dichotomies between organic recordings and processed sounds,” (Weird Ear Records), and “...strikingly visceral, three-dimensional...” (New Music Box). ... more

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