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David Dunn: Verdant

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Artist: David Dunn
Title: Verdant
Format: CD
Label: Neuma Records (@)
I was unfamiliar with Dunn's work, but he seems to be quite into field recording, so I was already on board. Part of this was recorded in Dunn's backyard in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The label describes the album thus: “The aural complexity of this urban soundscape is ordinarily masked by layers of ambient city noise but the combination of the Easter Sunday holiday and Covid-19 pandemic shutdown allowed otherwise suppressed sounds to become readily audible. On top of this semi-wild soundscape (recorded at very high resolution), multiple sonic layers have been added that explore and accentuate the unedited ambient recording. Electronic drones and melodies are combined with harmonically rich patterns played by two electric violins.” Sounds good, so let's get into the music itself.

This album consists of one 79 minute long track called Verdant. It consists of a series of strung together intertwined tones mixed with field recordings of bird song. At times soothing and calm and at times piercing and dissonant. Overall, it's an interesting piece, but for me it didn’t really seemed to hit its stride until about 35 minutes in. Over time it's a little less interesting because it just seems to be tone after tone layered on tone. I really liked the concept and wanted to enjoy it, but it felt like it went on a bit longer than it needed to. Your mileage may vary though. This album weighs in at around 79 minutes.

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