Green World by Wildflower

A note from Andrew Barton (Antiquated Future Records, cookbook writer, friend):

Dear Listener,

You may listen to Green World on a living room hi-fi or through a car stereo, but don't just sit there hearing the sounds. It's worth doing more: try experiencing it. Take a walk with the record in your ears, or stay where you are but imagine yourself putting on your shoes, grabbing a jacket, feeling the fresh air on your face, the way – when a soft note lands – you might look up at the sky. I heard Wildflower's first demo several years ago on a phone's shitty speakers, halfway across the world in a port city, window open to the falling dusk. Adrian O'Barr's songs instantly evoked the coastline of Maine, reflected light, grasses and wildflowers swaying on hills in places I'd been in both reality and dreams.

Adrian's song cycle began there, opening with the image of a shoreline and the free feeling standing by it, on into Part One's truck tape deck playing endlessly to The Ocean Rose's golden light reflected on bodies of water, onward to Green World's seabirds guiding journeys up the coastline. This song cycle continues in the tradition practiced by songwriters unafraid to return to the same images – going only further down the road. Silver moon through the trees. A heron gliding into the morning sun. Meeting old friends in an abandoned waterside restaurant. Ships passing in the rain. His dog leading him through the mist. As Adrian sings about the quiet that settles inside you when you really notice the world, you can almost step into the images, blurring the line between your own memories and the stories unfolding within the songs. This loop continues, only growing clearer with every step.

So, pull on that jacket, it's walking weather.

Andrew Barton
Portland, OR, January 2024

Wildflower is the Songwriting project of Adrian O'Barr, based in Portland, Maine.