Jim Nollman – Orcas' Greatest Hits (LP Vinyl)
Product Details
Nollman's work sits at a genuinely rare intersection of ecology, acoustics, and improvisation, predating by decades the broader conversation about animal cognition and interspecies communication that scientists and musicians are still catching up to. Smithsonian Folkways, the label that has documented everything from field recordings to folk revival to avant-garde experimentation since 1948, is the natural home for an archive this singular.
Jim Nollman is a sound artist and author who has dedicated his practice to playing music with non-human individuals. Following his 1982 album on Folkways, Playing Music with Animals, Nollman established an artistic residency and community space at a cove in British Columbia, dubbed Orcananda after the orca residents that have dwelled in it's deep waters for centuries. Nollman and his cohort took a considered approach to developing sonic relationships with the orcas and other animals they encountered, always keeping a respectful distance as they found one another with their ears. Orcas' Greatest Hits collects hydrophone recordings drawn from over 60 hours of interspecies collaboration recorded between 1985 and 2002, showing the playful ways in which Nollman engaged the orcas from the portable studio floating above their home. What we hear is the focused listening by the cetaceans and humans as they search out sonic space among one another, finding in that dialogue potential common ground for deeper understanding.
Tracklist
UPC: 093074509517
Label: Smithsonian Folkways
Release Date: 8.14.26
Format: LP Vinyl