These pieces of music all have one thing in common: they started with a simple, lightly processed field recording of an interesting place I spent time over the past year or so. In May of 2024, my partner Kate and I took a trip to Madeira. Field recordings from this trip feature heavily on the album, forming the basis of “Levada dos Cedros,” “Morning,” “Southern North Atlantic,”, and “Levada do Moinho.” These tracks are fully preoccupied with the breeze and beauty of that strange island. “Really Shouldn’t Be Up Here” is a different story, its underpinning field recording capturing the strangeness of flying in planes.

The other tracks find their origins closer to home. “End of Winter” sits in a moment just before the breaking of spring at Southwest Philadelphia’s Bartram’s Garden, heralded by the songs of urban stalwarts like robins, cardinals, and white throated sparrows. “By Rail” expands on the chaotic beauty of the 13 Trolley eastbound to Center City, Philadelphia. “Complaint” relishes nothing. There are two field recordings here, each from its own particularly miserable work experience, one camping out in the cold rain of Connecticut in April, and the other weeding a home garden along a New Jersey highway.