The Travelling Guild Album

Splendid music for summer. BYRON COLEY – THE WIRE
Highly elegant stuff here... FRANZ DE WAARD – VITAL WEEKLYFor years I´ve mixed field recordings with my music – I created music first and checked my field recordings bank to get the one that could fit. Later I began to create music to match the field recordings I loved, trying to catch their mood in my playing. But it was difficult, if not impossible, to feel “as if I were there” when I wrote or played those tunes I eventually decided to go out and record music /in situ/. With two condenser microphones, a portable recorder and a guitar, I am now able to record music that fits perfectly with the environmental sounds. But the mood is still hard to get; That´s why I do not only record outside, I also play only improvised pieces, depending on how I feel at the moment. “The travelling Guild” is a collection of some of these aural snapshots.JL
 
Lavoir (Fage- Lot)I recorded this one at noon near an old washing place, full of water, with a lot of bees and wasps flying above it. I put the microphones close to the water to catch a maximum of insects sounds. Above me were a lot of boxwoods, with fruits (small capsules containing seeds) falling down all the time. The “knock” you can hear a the beginning of the recording is a fruit falling on a microphone.
Camping(Saint Point- Bourgogne)I spent a few days in a camping near a lake in Burgundy in august. It was a small, family-like camping, with people with kids. One evening they even had that singer-keyboardist come and sing at the bar. Hopefully we were rather far from him. At night I put my microphones on the edge on the table and recorded this track, playing the softer I could, for not waking my neighbours up.
Eglise (Fage – Lot)A friend lent me the keys for an unused church. At the hottest of the afternoon, I put my microphones of the nave\’s pavement, and played in the chancel.
Source (Blanhac – Haute Loire)My family house lies in Blanhac. I decided to record a track near the spring, a place were water drips from a half tree\’s bark. I recorded this tune at night. Mosquitos were my only company.
Terrasse (Lyon – Rhône)My flat has a terrace, a small sunny spot with small trees. A part of this terrace is covered by our upper neighbour”s balcony. I recorded this tune one evening, when it was raining.
Eglise 2 Same time and place as track 3 – I was sitting in the transept for this one.
Lavoir 2 Same time and place as track 1. A Jay I hadn\’t seen was perched in the boxwoods just above me. I was so deep into my playing that his croaking scared me to death.