I started listening to college radio as a teen, back in the early 1970s. About a decade later I got behind the mic for the first time at WUSB (90.1fm, Stony Brook). I hosted a couple of talk shows, and tried my hand at a few different time slots for a music show. Always liked the overnight best. Back then, the station had a library of about 30,000 LPs. Going back further, I bought my first record at the age of 9, in 1965 (Herman’s Hermits On Tour, if you want to know).
What I’m trying to say, I’ve been listening to off beat and non-commercial music for most of my life. While my knowledge of music isn’t universal, I do think I have a passing familiarity with what’s out there, especially the older stuff.
When I was nearing the end of my working days, a new community station started up in the town where I worked. I volunteered for an overnight shift, and hosted a show called Afterimages from midnight to 4am (later 3am) for about 5 years. One morning after my shift, driving back home, I was listening to the local jazz station (WHUP’s signal didn’t reach all the way to my house), and I heard a fantastic song by an artist whose voice I didn’t recognize. The song was monuments of Mars, by a singer named Terry Callier. I looked him up as soon as I walked in the door. Turns out that album was already 15 years old, and he had in fact passed away in 2012. But even more surprising was that his recording career began as a folkie back in 1966 with a record called The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier, and continued with half a dozen additional LPs through the late 1970s. Then, following a nearly 20 year hiatus, he began recording again at the end of the 90s, releasing another 10 full-lengths. And yet, 5 years after his passing, I had never heard of the man. The revelation that this amazing artist had never once crossed my ears blew away any notions that I had about the extent of my musical knowledge. I am constantly amazed by the various re-issue labels digging up gems from the vaults that deserved wider audiences rather than obscurity, and always humbled by how much great music there is out there which I’ve never heard. I do my best to find and play as much of it as I can every week on Sounds of the Sea.
All of this to introduce the spotlight album for this week, A Colloquy of Birds, from Alison O’Donnell & Gayle Brogan. I played an early release track from this record a couple of weeks ago. When I had the chance to listen to the full album last week, I knew it was going to be one of my favourites of the year. Gayle Brogan has been on my radar for a few years, as a member of the experimental folk group Burd Ellen. But Alison O’Donnell was not someone I’ve listened to previously. Her band United Bible Studies has over a dozen releases, and she’s got another couple dozen solo, collaboration, and guest appearances over the past 15 or 20 years. I have a lot of catching up to do.
On to this album. A Colloquy of Birds is 15 tracks “inspired by the folklore of birds.” But it’s an injustice to call this a folk album. There are deep drones, subtle harmonies, unidentifiable electronics (I think) to lead you on a journey to unexplored places. This record simply hits all my sweet spots, and I hope it does for you as well.
sounds of the sea 