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Liz Hanks
Land
Released 2 Jun 2023
Liz Hanks
Land explores just some of these influences; minimalism, folk, Indian classical music and improvisation whilst remaining heavily rooted in her local landscape. Based on the local and natural history of her local area in Sheffield, the record explores both the loss of nature in the urban environment and forgotten natural worlds, whilst celebrating the green spaces that remain.
“As I began exploring ideas for this album, I was drawn to the sounds from my local area in Sheffield. Field recordings gathered from the woods and park made me wonder, what was this area was like before the housing and roads were built?
I discovered that before the area of Meersbrook was built there was a beautiful valley called ‘Rush Dale’. Inspired by reading written accounts of this lost valley and looking at old photos and paintings I set out writing music to recreate these lost times and places. My hope is that these pieces let you imagine stepping back in time, either in Meersbrook, if you have the chance to visit here, or on the land where you live. Every place has history in its soil.”
Recorded in Meersbrook by Liz during the pandemic, when worlds became all the more influenced by our locality, ‘Land’ can now be experienced in a fully immersive accompanying app which maps out a guided walk of the areas which inspired and feature on the album, the GPS tracker blends the tracks as you walk and you’ll hear specially recorded commentary written by Sheffield writer Sally Goldsmith.
Tracklist
- Meer (boundary)•
- Keld (a spring)•
- Brook (small stream)•
- Ride (path made by humans or animals through woodland)•
- Hide (measurement of land needed to sustain a family)•
- Carr (marsh)•
- Ley (an open area of land, clearing in a wood)•
- Kerf (width of a saw cut)•
- Glind (enclosure)•
- Brier (many plants with thorny stems growing in dense clusters)
Credits
- Liz Hanks Cello, Producer
- Alisdair McGregor Field Recordings
- Andy Bell Mixed
- Sam Proctor Mastered
- Simon Buckley Photography
- Chris Saunders Photography
