Calm

Listening to Calm takes me to a pleasant place where the conditions are just right. Sometimes it’s a wooded valley with dappled sunlight dancing through the trees and a light breeze providing motion and making everything feel alive. Sometimes it’s up high overlooking rolling hills and bodies of water. For me the latter is often the wonderful Cat Bells in the Lake District area of the UK. Wherever it takes you I hope you find it peaceful, calming and fulfilling.

The original version of Calm featured samples taken from BBC Radio 4’s venerable The Shipping Forecast. For various reasons and with a slightly heavy heart I removed them before release, but I’m now glad I did as my mind finds it easier to wander whilst listening to this simpler version of Calm.

Breeze

I’ve always loved the sounds of the boatyard as they invoke some very happy memories from my youth - long summer days messing around in dinghies and ploughing my way through the Swallows and Amazons books by Arthur Ransome. The slapping of lanyards against masts is rhythmic in a completely disordered way, and the aeolian resonance (humming and whistling) caused by wind passing the multitudes of ropes, lines and cables is enchanting. This aeolian resonance is the essence of ‘ghosts in the rigging’, a phrase which I’ve long found provocative and intriguing, so thats often where my mind goes when I listen to Breeze.

The boatyard recordings were made during a family holiday to Northern Brittany in France.

Zephyr

Zephyr takes me to the optimism of spring and those gentle winds bringing warmth and hope from the west. There’s a delicacy to it which probably wasn’t my original intention but somehow my inner Vivaldi was channeled, and I’m really quite proud of it. It’s revitalising, rejuvenating and hopeful.

Cloudburst

I love, love, love a good storm. The storm used in Cloudburst was recorded during a family holiday to Northern Brittany in France. The rest of the track was built around the recording of the storm, but really, I think I’d be equally happy just listening to the rain and thunder of the original recording.

Tempest

One of my favourite tracks on Petrichor, I sometimes find myself listening to Tempest almost on the edge of my seat. It’s menacing and powerful and I’ve occasionally even felt there’s an undercurrent of sinister and threat lurking beneath the surface.

Mistral

A mistral is a strong cold wind that originates in the Alps and self generates as it makes its way south towards the Mediterranean. Clearing the sky on its path it leaves dry, cold but sunny weather behind. Was that the inspiration for the track of the same name? Maybe. Perhaps it’s just an interesting piece of music.

Squall

The inspiration for Squall came from a couple of TV shows I saw a few years ago. First is season one of 'The Terror' which is an adaptation of a real expedition to the arctic in the 1800’s. Second is 'The North Water' which dramatises a fated whaling expedition also to the arctic. Aside from being great television the sound design was incredible in both, particularly the surround sound creaking of the wooden ships when they're at sea. This creaking is taken up a notch and becomes more than a little chilling when they both end up trapped and  mercilessly crushed by the vice like forces of the arctic ice.

So Squall makes me think of mariners around our globe, our mighty oceans and their ever changing weather.

Petrichor

That magnificent smell after rain during a dry spell is, for me, one of life’s great joys. Scientists believe we have a deep rooted appreciation for this smell due to our ancient ancestors need to find water to be able to survive. So, next time you smell petrichor it might be worthwhile to stop, take a moment and contemplate.

Thanks for listening/reading and I hope you enjoyed Petrichor.