Sam McLoughlin & David Chatton Barker - Environmental Meditation Music (EMM)

Created and conducted by Sam McLoughlin (N.Racker, Sam and the plants) & 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 have collected many hours of recorded material, which has been
hewn into a long form digital edition and this two-sided 46min long playing record. For the record sleeves, 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 305x card sleeves were created using this process
and so each edition of the record is unique.