Soundings in Fathoms, by John Swanke

Soundings in Fathoms

by John Swanke

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chrisroyalty One of my favorite instrumental guitar albums of the year. Crucially, the textures don't feel 'on top of' but rather a part of the music – at times complementing, at times challenging the playing. It's like a shipwrecked copy of "Bad Timing" that finally washed up on shore.

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Streaming + Download

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

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Limited Edition c37 Cassette
Cassette + Digital Album
Professionally duplicated white shell cassette w/ black ink imprint. Recorded in real time to “Recording the Masters” Ferro, each copy comes with double-sided full color J-card featuring original photography by the artist, packaged in a vintage style heavy duty Norelco case. Limited hand-numbered edition of 70 copies.

Includes unlimited streaming of Soundings in Fathoms via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Soundings 03:11
2.	Dance of the Green Crab 04:52	info
3.	Rivers in the Sky 10:22	info
4.	King Tide / Lummi Shore 08:05
5.	Three Dead Dogfish 07:01	info
6.	Fathoms 03:19

about

A soundtrack for the grey and green landscape of the Pacific Northwest.

John Swanke creates his own unique path, using his guitar as a tool to explore the mysteries of the coastal shoreline. The music dissolves the salty air into tiny particles of sand, carving a dynamic pattern of organic erosion.

We're happy to reach to the West and help support the artist's latest vision "Soundings in Fathoms". Written and recorded at home along the shore of the Salish Sea, the work is absorbed from the surrounding environments of the artist's native area.

Much of Swanke's music is built around aspects of the natural world, and here the artist is particularly focused on the intersection between land and water. The album is a tribute to the creatures and spirits that inhabit Lummi Shore.

"Soundings in Fathoms" travels along the boundary between sea and land, investigating themes of the coastal ecosystem. The music follows the blight of local invasive species, rides the shift of tidal patterns, and speaks in systems of nautical measurement. With a playtime of 38 minutes spread over six tracks, the warm recordings highlight the human presence, and are complemented by the gently crumbling transcriptions of the nearby coastline. The compositions hover through dense drones into a near chamber-folk sensibility, slowly clearing with a soft glowing light.

Several tracks feature the shining talents of Hannah Wyatt and Tim Mechling on strings and keys, with each artist bringing a respective sense of intimacy and dimensional expansion to the work as a whole.

The album feels distinctly regional, with each song focused on individual features and details of the artist's own natural landscape, capturing this perspective and reflecting the viewpoint back to the world around us. The music contains pure energies harnessed, elements distilled for expanding horizons.

Inspired by strange gifts from the currents and tide.

"Dance of the Green Crab" video - bit.ly/3Wjw4R2

credits

released May 19, 2023

John Swanke -
Field recordings, guitars, synthesizers, tape loops

Tim Mechling -
Keys on "Dance of the Green Crab" and "Rivers in the Sky"

Hannah Wyatt -
Strings on "Three Dead Dogfish"

All music by the players.
Recorded at home by John Swanke.

Album artwork features original cover photography by the artist.

Design and printing by Matthew Himes.

johnswanke.bandcamp.com

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Lighten Up Sounds Minnesota

Supporting marginal music.

LightenUpSounds.com

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