Place Language is an international non-profit compilation album project inspired by the themes found in Robert Macfarlane’s widely-acclaimed book ‘Landmarks’. In particular it focuses on the book’s extensive topographic glossaries, the “word-hoard” of depictive landscape terms gathered from 30 different languages, dialects and sub-dialects around Britain & Ireland and divided into sections by type of terrain (Flatlands, Uplands, Waterlands, Coastlands, Underlands, Northlands, Edgelands, Earthlands and Woodlands).Relying on these topograms, or “tiny place poems”, as creative prompts, Place Language seeks to both inspire a renewed interest in our surroundings and reinvigorate our appreciation for the audible textures & patterns that characterize a place in keeping with the book’s stated desire to “re-wild” our vocabulary.

The collection features the work of 28 different sound-artists, field recordists, and musicians from around the globe each of whom selected a Landmarks topogram and recorded an impression of it thus adding rich new aspects of dimensionality through the act of sonification. These selections cover all nine of the book’s glossaries along with place-words of new coinage as prompted by the blank one which Macfarlane leaves at the end of the book for readers...  more

credits

released October 2, 2019

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All sounds recorded by the participating artists.
Audio mastered by Ian Hawgood.
Artwork by Gregory Euclide.
Liner notes by Robert Macfarlane.
Design by Daniel Crossley.
Book layout by Ian Hazeldine.

Special thanks to each and every participant for sharing with us a glimpse of these places; to Daniel and Gregory for your artwork and design; to Brian for curatorial and organization assistance; to you, the listener, for motivating us all with your support and enthusiasm; and of course, to Robert for the writings and observations that inspired this project.

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