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RICHARD FRANCIS
Land Gallery
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The Land gallery reveals the dramatic contrasts of New Zealand’s environment, from snowy peaks to active volcanoes, limestone caves to lush sub-tropical forests and wetlands.
Now you’re Gone
Track 4 length 5:07
Richard Francis started with the idea of creating a piece that would trace a journey from one end of the Land Gallery to the other – from the mountains, through forests, to the wetlands. But as he began crafting sound impressions of each environment he became more curious about the way the different sounds worked together, clashed, harmonised and overlapped, and decided that his original idea would be too limiting for both the composer and the listener. The result is a piece that does not prescribe a linear path through the Land Gallery, but explores the relationships between some of the different sections.
Collecting sound materials to represent the different environments meant going bush. Using recording equipment, Francis captured the chittering of leaves and twigs, the swish of beach grasses in the wind and vibrations through the trunk of a tree. To represent the mountains, he recorded sounds of rocks in contact and stones being handled. These provide some of the textures you will hear in the piece, while the bigger, more constant sounds include the roar of wind and roll of waves.
About the Artist
Richard Francis has been active as a musician since 1996. His sound work is primarily concerned with recording and manipulating acoustic and electronic sounds from the environment. Francis has released solo and collaborative sound works on a variety of labels and under his own label – CMR – he is releasing works by Auckland sound artists on limited-edition lathe-cut records. As a performing artist, Francis has toured extensively, and from 2003-2006 he was involved in running ACROMA, an organisation that coordinated a series of music events in Auckland that hosted local and visiting experimental sound artists. From 2004-2007, Francis was a member of the Alt.Music committee for New Zealand’s experimental music festival and performance series and from 2004-2006 was on the board of the New Zealand Audio Foundation.
Richard Francis website
Track Credits
Composed by Richard Francis March - April 2009
Source sounds: waves, wind, stones, wood, foliage, sand, signal generator
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