Kieran Mahon - Morning Brings The Light - CD

This album is about the micro world of a garden in a small coastal town. For two weeks either side of the 2021 summer solstice Kieran Mahon routinely made field recordings of his garden from pre-dawn until the first stirrings of people beginning their days.
“After ending up with hours of recordings”, Kieran explains, “I then spent a long period listening and immersing myself in the environment - the ebb and flow, the subtle changes in atmosphere, the conversations between birds and insects, the wind, clouds, trees and the nearby sea and the perception of light.

“This is a time most of us are not conscious of. As such, despite morning being the subject matter, from a human point of view it is an album as much about sleep as awakening. The music therefore is as based on both an imagined world and a literal one.

“I recorded numerous modular synth pieces in response to the field recordings and then began to incorporate these back into the mix. Conceptually I was inspired by Wendy Carlos’ Sonic Seasonings LP (1972), although the music in her case was made with a more dramatic quality. Whilst Carlos used very clear sign posts like the sound of rain, thunder, waves and wind in her work - playing out the narrative in almost cinematic way - I was more intrigued by tiny details, sometimes stepping outside of real time to give several minutes focus on something that only lasted a second to two. I was also keen not to try and replicate sounds occurring naturally. I realised the folly of an elaborate synth patch being used to mimc the already generative and mesmeric sounds of simple bird calls or insect wings.

“Musically I have had the eponymous Michael O’Shea album (1982) at the the forefront of my mind for sometime and owe it a debt of gratitude for some of the conclusions I have drawn, similarly I have been inspired by John James - from who’s 1970 LP I have borrowed my title.”

Tracks:

1. The Dark Blue Sky

2. Sea Mist

3. First Light

4. The Sun

5. Bugs Arise From Torpor

6. The Rosh Bush

7. Light Through The Trees

8. Are 'Birds' Electric?

9. You Are Here Pt. 1

10. Pepe And The Rain

11. You Are Here Pt. 2