Falling inside by Margaret Harmer

This is Margaret Harmer’s 2nd full album composed in the ambient style with many acoustic instruments (medieval bells, crystal bowls, piano, marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, tablas, etc.) and field recordings. Her music is vibrant, organic and layered with textured drones.

“My music is composed of many stories. I was woken up one morning with the screeching of crows. In the courtyard looking down from my window were 4 black crows perched on a tree and a black cat trying to climb it. I recorded this amusing scene and it gave the name for my first piece. Then followed many field recordings of hot springs and the sea in Iceland (using some hydrophones), the rain in the Swiss alps on a cool summers night.

My medieval bells were recorded in a small church in Switzerland and are part of a previous CD (Dialogue: William Byrd - Arvo Pärt) I did with an ensemble of singers. I kept those takes and used one for my second piece transforming the bright bells into a darker drony piece. My sister lent me her beautiful crystal bowls and because of the bowls being slightly out of pitch, playing them together created friction and tension within the chords. I liked those micro dissonances and kept them in both Coming closer creates friction and Relief pieces.

Content was recorded on a beautiful old grand Steinway at the fasting clinic Buchinger in Germany. After the rain the trees feel so lush was recorded at my pianist friend’s apartment. I kept all the extra noises from the environment making them part of the music. I did quite a few experiments with micro sounds recording very soft sounds very close to my high end set of microphones. Tiny sounds of bells, crotales and chimes; the rustling sounds of onion peals or gently brushed bark are delicate and bring intimacy to my music and contrast with the longing textured drones.”

A beautiful review here:
https://acloserlisten.com/2017/01/27/margaret-harmer-falling-inside/
"Don’t believe everything you read – there are still abundant acts of kindness out there. You must spread it yourself, because only then can the world change for the better. For now, Falling Inside is your remedy." (James Catchpole)

Tracklist

1.	4 blackbirds & a black cat	6:20

2.	Bells	4:10

3.	Deep sorrow	5:38

4.	Organic	5:49

5.	after the rain the trees feel so lush	5:31

6.	Coming closer creates friction	5:33

7.	Relief	5:19

8.	Content	4:03

9.	Seltun	3:57

10.	Open	1:36

11.	Falling inside	12:49

Credits

released January 4, 2017

All tracks composed and produced by Margaret Harmer
Vocals (1) Diana Pluss
Piano (5) Soniya Hauser
Photograph of rose by John Palmer
Mixing & Mastering @ Shiftingwaves studio
www.shiftingwaves.com

License