Chad Crouch’s soundwalks fuse immersive binaural recordings—made while walking through a sound-rich natural environment—with his elegantly simple instrumental scores. Melodic compositions are built up with piano, woodwinds, strings, guitar, tuned percussion and warm synthesizers. The Bow River, with its animal soundscape elements—wild, domesticated, and human— is the backdrop for Crouch’s thoughtful, reflective score.
This recording was made in Banff Alberta, Canada proper. Starting on the South side of town and walking along the Bow River, over the Banff pedestrian bridge to Bow Falls and back again.
This is quasi urban walk I’d say. I’m often within earshot of a city street, but the river sounds mask most traffic noise. Happily Banff is probably one of the most equestrian towns in North America, so you’ll hear not one but two horse trains and their drivers. I really like this detail.
Speaking of detail, you’ll also hear water lapping at the shore in close detail. I forgot my recording hat at home on this walk. The soundscape is recorded by a small pair of omnidirectional mics dangling from their cords — a tactic I’ve used on beach walks in the past. Not a lot of birds but certainly some.
Something you can’t hear is the art on display along the wooded path. This is Banff’s Art Walk, something I first experienced in 1990 on my first visit 32 years prior, back in my high school days. I remember our Calgary area host leading us on the walk and later asking how I enjoyed it. I replied that I liked the walk but in general I didn’t care for paintings hanging on trees. I thought it looked messy, I said. The free-standing sculptures were fine. I remember distinctly how her face fell with my reply. I think she put a lot of effort into activity planning and had thought this would be right up my alley. I made some remark to soften my stance, but the damage was done to some extent.
It’s not lost on me, by the way, that I’m essentially doing here what I professed not to car for 32 years ago, in musical form. I’m essentially hanging my songs on the sound of the river in the trees. I’m slapping my own layer on the woods and selling it as art. Or trying to.
My feeling on this walk was certainly more subdued. I didn’t mind that there were paintings and sculptures hanging from trees. Nevertheless, in general, the pieces that seemed to be created to interact with the natural environment in some way, or use natural materials were the ones I thought worked better. That more or less describes my approach here with music. I largely keep it simple and spacious. My sound palette is for the most part naturalistic, though I am layering in some spacey synthesizers for sure. These I kind of associate with the soundtrack for the Carl Sagans Cosmos TV series. They conjure up universal, big picture vibes for me. I hope they do for you too.
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