Michael Trommer – The Great Northern Loon

Birds of a Feather will be a series of at least 12 three inch cds released as pairs in runs of 100 over the next year. Each cd comes in a handmade sleeve and contains a statement from the artist…

‘The swans are always in my thoughts and give splendor to (my) life. (It’s) strange to learn that nothing in the whole world affect me – nothing in art, literature, or music – in the same ways as do these swans and cranes and wild geese. Their voices and being.” Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

The role of birds as muse, as musical guide and inspiration has been well documented in classical music, from Mozart’s pet starling to Beethoven’s birdsong filled Pastoral Symphony and Sibelius’s swan hymn to Messaien’s birdsong compositions.

Birds of a Feather celebrates the role of birds in ambient music, and the beautiful fragility of birds more generally.

So many different types of birds are struggling to eke out an existence in an increasingly urbanized world, in some cases they adapt and survive.

In others like the case of New Zealand’s flightless and critically endangered Kakapo, which has a permanent human support team and whole island dedicated to helping the species recover, even the most drastic measures may come to late.

But always birds inspire us with their mastery of flight, their epic migrations, their tragic vulnerability and their against the odds tales of survival.