Son Of The Mountain Spirit

It was never my intention to create a piece of music inspired by Prince Philip. It was simply that those were the particular cards that I was dealt on the day I began work on the piece. There was no plan other than to go out and collect some field recordings and to see what I could pick up using the SOMA Ether V2.

The SOMA Ether V2 is a weird device that is essentially a receiver of ambient telecommunication signals whizzing around us in the air. It is particularly affected by magnetic fields, machinery, engines, metal objects, etc. It’d probably be best to record with it in the city, but I live in the countryside in Wales, and wondered what I could pick up effectively out in the middle of nowhere.

Consequently most of the sounds that make up the track that became “Son Of The Mountain Spirit” were recorded in the middle of the Gors Fawr Stone circle near Mynachlogddu in Pembrokeshire on the afternoon of Saturday 17 April 2021. The stones themselves were acting as conduits for broadcast signals and at that particular time on that particular day there was one particular event that was dominant, inescapable even, namely the funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

I am not a supporter of the Royal Family. I believe that the whole institution is outdated and irrelevant. But neither am I one to take any pleasure in the death of an old man, whatever his station in life. 

Opinion on Prince Philip seems to be sharply divided. Supporters speak of his love of nature and wildlife, his support of the young - crystalised of course in the Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme, his military honours and other valiant deeds. Detractors criticise his love of hunting, his apparent racism and oft-reported social gaffes. I, like many others, laughed my head off back in November 2000 when I heard the story that while touring a factory in Scotland, Prince Philip remarked that some electrical equipment looked so crude "it must have been installed by an Indian." But then again, maybe we enjoyed that anecdote just a little bit too much.

The Kastom people from around the villages of Yaohnanen and Yakel on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu loved Prince Philip. Because he was a person of some standing married to a strong woman, i.e. the Queen, they identified him as the living embodiment of a deity referred to in their own religion - a descendent of the Mountain Spirit - and they venerated him as a divine being. The first thing I thought when I heard of the Prince’s death on 9 April 2021 was, “Oh no, those island people who worshipped him have just lost their god.”

The track “Son Of The Mountain Spirit” is not supposed to mock, but neither is it a celebratory piece. It is what it is: a document of what was happening that afternoon in April while I was sitting inside a stone circle with my dog.

<>. .<>. .<>. .<>. .<>. .<>.

Recorded 17 April 2021 inside the Gors Fawr stone circle near Mynachlogddu in Pembrokeshire, and on 18 April 2021 in and around Glandwr, also in Pembrokeshire. Recorded using a Zoom H1n, SOMA Ether V2, and Ableton Live 10.

Son Of The Mountain Spirit

Another sound collage using the sounds of Pembrokeshire blue stones (like those of Stone Henge infamy), random radio samples via the SOMA Ether V2, and some highly effected lap steel guitar.

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