We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Music for the Moon and the Trees

by Morgan Szymanski and Tommy Perman

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    This 12" vinyl release is limited to 300 copies, each uniquely pressed on eco-mix vinyl.

    The cover features a specially commissioned screenprint by printmaker Angie Lewin.

    Includes an additional booklet featuring sleeve notes by Claire Sawers.

    Each record is pressed on eco-mix vinyl using leftover coloured pellets from other vinyl pressings, meaning each copy is both visually unique, and more environmentally-friendly than standard pressings.

    Please note that the images here are representative of just a few of the 300 uniquely pressed eco-mix vinyl records. The colour and pattern of every copy will be different.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Music for the Moon and the Trees via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £20 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A 6-panel Digipak CD release featuring artwork by printmaker Angie Lewin and sleeve notes by Claire Sawers.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Music for the Moon and the Trees via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP or more 

     

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
In the Pines 02:09
6.
7.
Pipistrellus 05:12
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

about

'Music for the Moon and the Trees' by classical guitarist Morgan Szymanski and experimental musician Tommy Perman is the result of a long-held wish that the two childhood friends would get the chance to create an album together. It’s a meditative album; a gentle thing of serene beauty and quiet innovation.

Taking advantage of a break in the Mexico-based guitarist’s busy touring schedule, the duo took to a woodland cottage in rural Scotland to record the album over five days in midsummer 2019, using solar and wind power generated entirely on-site.

Arriving from Venice, Morgan joined Tommy in Perthshire for a night of listening to music and chatting by the light of a fire and the full moon about the album they might create together. Tommy shared Japanese electronic musician Isao Tomita’s 1970s electronic reworking of 'Clair De Lune'. Both Morgan and Tommy’s father share a birthday with Claude Debussy, and these coincidences persuaded them to quote from 'Clair De Lune' in the recordings they made throughout the week.

All of the sounds heard on the album were recorded in the woodland surrounding the cottage. There was a childlike sense of wonder as the duo recorded the sounds of the trees, birds, bats and an assortment of found percussion. Convolution reverbs were created by snapping twigs and pinging spruce branches. Much of the music was improvised with live single-take performances by Morgan combined with Tommy’s computer generative improvisations.

Morgan had just collected a new guitar made for him by Italian master luthier Luciano Lovadina. Luciano chooses the wood for his guitars by walking into the forest when the moon is full and listening to the sound of the trees. He selects the most resonant Italian red spruce, which is felled and seasoned for a year. The guitar made for Morgan is particularly resonant, which can be heard in the rich harmonics on the album.

They returned to their busy lives at the end of the week, and Tommy worked on producing the recordings over the next nine months – finishing it during the UK’s first coronavirus lockdown.

'Music for the Moon and the Trees' is an album shaped as much by their changing environment as their fusion of talents, it’s an understated record with immense depth and delicacy. It’s a rich tribute to the many powerful forces at play and conjures up both the calm and the uncanny, inviting whoever listens to it to press pause on the outside world for a brief spell.

“Music that captures the moon over rural Scotland.” — Elizabeth Alker / Unclassified / BBC Radio 3

"The musical arc bends from the quiet foliage at dusk into the heart of the night forest, as the creatures come out to frolic.” — A Closer Listen

“An intimate and deeply comforting record of real beauty... It’s like an exclusive club night of sort for the moon and the trees, as they dance to their own private soundtrack - an intimate and deeply comforting record of real beauty.” — The Skinny

credits

released August 5, 2022

Sleeve notes by Claire Sawers

Cover illustration by Angie Lewin

Mastered by Sam Annand

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Blackford Hill Edinburgh, UK

Our releases encompass electronica, field recordings, modern classical, spoken word and jazz - all connected to or inspired by a sense of place, created in a variety of audio and print formats.

contact / help

Contact Blackford Hill

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Music for the Moon and the Trees, you may also like: