I originally wrote Frost On the Fields to sing on my morning walk as the sun one on the Winter Solstice, but adapt the words so it can be applicable on any frosty day as a reminder to myself of the hope that’s a.ways there if we can be patient and wait.
I later put a guitar accompaniment to it but enjoy singing it unaccompanied in the woods too.
Though the frost is on the fields
And a chill in the air, 
There’s a stirring in the hearts of
The deer and the hare

Oh the Solstice Sun shall rise 
And our hearts will be surprised
By the warmth in our blood
And the hope in our eyes.

Though the grey clouds may hang heavy
And cold winds blow from the east,
There’s a stirring in the heart of
Each bird and each beast

And the Solstice Sun shall rise
And our hearts will be surprised
But the warmth in our blood
And the hope in our eyes.

Though the earth may seem to slumber
Beneath a white wintry cloak, 
There’s a stirring in the roots
Of the pine & the oak. 

And a new day shall arise
And our hearts will be surprised
But the warmth in our blood
And the hope in our eyes.

Frost On The Fields

Created for the Disquiet Junto Project 0523: Chill Communication
@disquiet

The Project: Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something with it.

These ice samples were recorded by whirling ice cubes in a growler back in 2017. I looped a section and processed that through a Make Noise Strega, recording the piece mostly as one improvised take where I 'played' the filter to create layers of feedback in the delay. There is one overdub where I improvised repitching the same ice loop in Samplr and also processed that through the Strega, creating different tones of delay feedback. There's a bit of judicious volume envelope editing added in post to calm the feedback swells a bit. It all reminded me of a slow motion version of the wild ricochet sounds made by dropping ice down a bored ice core well.

Many congrats and thanks to Marc ( @disquiet ) and Happy 10th Anniversary to the Junto!!

More on this 523rd weekly Disquiet Junto project – Chill Communication (The Assignment: Record the sound of ice in a glass and make something with it) – at: https://disquiet.com/0523/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co : https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0523-chill-communication/

Ice Drops - [disquiet0523 - chillcommunication ]

Начало

This week's Disquiet Junto project had us look at earlier collaborations, and rework them. I choose Sternklang's Dead Center, which incorporated Dan Simpson (https://soundcloud.com/dan-simpson-497607106/disquiet0526-jan-21-look-again-2) and J. Benjamin Neimi's (https://soundcloud.com/user-931021867/january-21-look-again-disquiet0525)collaboration. I added a synth pad hooked up to Stochas, a bass and a droning guitar.

More on this 533rd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Numbers Magik (The Assignment: Remix a trio — potentially using its subsets and variants) — at: https://disquiet.com/0533/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0533-numbers-magik/

look further [disquiet0533]

The Cost Of Living

Different piece, but kind of on the same thought process - at least in my compositional conceptualization. This is still very much a work in progress. 

I continue to tinker with the idea of different perspectives - how the “same story” can be told by different people and vary slightly or a lot. I talked about the juxtaposition of natural vs. human-made.

I'm responding to everyone's feedback with this new composition, too. @gis_sweden said my previous track was like several short pieces. So I'm working through this piece differently. I have yet to record the vocal part, so this seems like a useless piece of information for those listening, but I started with the lyrics. My dad was recently diagnosed with dementia. And I keep thinking about memories. How do we share memories if we don't remember any more? Did we even have the same memories even if we experienced something together? 

Anyway, I ended up with sappy lyrics about the times we'd go to the beach in Chiba (we lived in Tokyo), how we'd play in the water all day and our skin would hurt in the bath, how we'd go buy kakigori (shaved ice) after we'd slipped under the futon, and how I insisted I'd get the same flavor as my dad, even though matcha was too bitter for me and I really just wanted the neon colored strawberry ...

When I at first worked on a melody with the lyrics, then set it to a bass line and drums, it ended up super mellow at 90 bpm in e minor ... Then, as fate would have it, my program crashed and I lost the entire piece. I took it as an opportunity to transform it into an upbeat piece, 130 bpm and in G major. So, a different way of tackling the conceptualization of the "same story" from various perspectives AND a way to respond to @gis_ sweden 's comment. 

I also wanted to work on feedback from @howthenightcame - on the notion of the natural vs. the human-made. So, I kept the mellow acoustic sound of the "original" piece in the first 16 bars while really pushing it to become a, well, 80's pop/dance tune.

Remembrance (disquiet0545)

Doubts

limited edition cassette available

this is my first label release & i'm super honored to have been singed to The Voluminous Arts Label

my album is available here 

https://westernobsidian.bandcamp.com/album/vol018-chasing-horses

VOL018 - Chasing Horses

*My New Album out on Bandcamp* VOL018 - Marcy Angeles - Chasing Horses - B6 - Chasing Horses

sunday plains.

I probably could have worked harder on this one.

Somewhat

Thinker

Germinating songwriter, simple country wench, mistress of the soil.

With my roots in the folk revival of the 60s and 70s, I’m a folk singer at heart, in love with everything from unaccompanied traditional folk through to folk rock, contemporary folk, American folk and beyond. 
Over the years, I’ve been inspired by singers such as Anne Briggs, Joan Baez, Sandy Denny, Maddy Prior & Joni Mitchell. More recently I’ve been enjoying the music of Rhiannon Giddens & Karine Polwart.
Having abandoned my music for decades, I’ve been encouraged by dear friends to pick up my guitar and start to sing again. I’ve only recently begun to write my own music and  it feels as if I’ve opened a door and found an undiscovered landscape which I now plan to explore. 
I never knew there were songs within me, but gradually they’re emerging, and so am I.

Frost On The Fields

Suzanne Harper