ONR x The Listening Planet
ONR + The Listening Planet came together to create "a unique and original work rooted in the natural beauty of Scotland"
Over a lifetime, The Listening Planet’s Martyn Stewart has recorded the sounds of a changing planet. Now, the team have made an album with music producer ONR. "Imperfect Cadence" is a call to conserve the wilds of Scotland.
The album takes listeners from rugged Highland cliffs to Lowland plains, merging sounds from the likes of Culloden, Rannoch Moor, Bass Rock and Loch Lomond in music. It launches today - Friday Dec 6th - and you can listen to the album here IMPERFECT CADENCE
We’re also releasing a sustainably produced, limited edition run of just 500 vinyl records. If you would like to pre-order you can do so HERE.
For most of us, to hear the birds of the Scottish Highlands - the skylark, the curlew and the wind over the moor - we need somebody else to go there with a microphone. Martyn Stewart has been doing that for decades. He's an audio naturalist, collecting a library of tens of thousands of sounds and documenting the sounds of a changing planet. And his latest project adds music to the mix. - NPR, Interview HERE (or below for those of you outside the USA)
ONR is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer born Robert Shields, hailing from Dumfriesshire in South Scotland. After a chance encounter with Martyn and Amanda in the famous Abbey Road studios, they started working together.
“It’s been the most incredible privilege to collaborate with Martyn and have a glimpse into his life’s work. It’s not often that you come across people as extraordinary as Martyn; I remain completely in awe of his morality, dedication, humanity and modesty. I feel like a better person for being, in some immeasurably tenuous way, tethered to the astounding amount of good work that he has dedicated his life to”
This partnership has been important on many levels, but most importantly, for Martyn, Scotland is home:
“Scotland will be my final resting place,” Martyn said. “It’s one of those places on Earth that is kind of unique, with pristine wilderness, nature living in harmony with the land without our intrusion.
“Every single place you go, every corner you turn are these beautiful, precious soundscapes. We have to be able to preserve that.
“I hope the album becomes an icon of these places. We’re just so disconnected with nature and maybe people can look at it in a different way.
“We’ve got the natural sound and we’ve got beautiful music with it. It’s almost the feeling of being there. If some appreciation of the land and music comes from it, we can keep this going forever.”
“YOU & I” - Solway Firth, Dumfries & Galloway
'Brace' Dalbeattie, Dumfries & Galloway
In the New Year, we’ll be heading to Scotland to continue filming the documentary we’re making about Martyn and his life. ONR will be joining us so we can record him, out in the Scottish Highlands, singing the closing song. If you want to learn more about the documentary and help us get it made, please go here:
Thank you to all of you who continue to support our work.
Always with love..