FIELD WORKS
The world is a recording studio where people, places, and things become the instruments. Stuart Hyatt has spent the last decade recording these sounds and arranging them into uniquely site-responsive music. Working under the Field Works name, Hyatt has curated and produced work with a remarkable group of contributing artists, writers, and musicians. Albums are created in collaboration with scientists and released in conjunction with museum exhibitions, books, and site-based performances that investigate our complicated relationship with the natural world.
Stations
What does the Earth sound like? In Stations, the 10th volume in the Field Works series, producer Stuart Hyatt approaches that question with a team of scientists working on the EarthScope experiment. Using sophisticated ground recording devices, Field Works has created a new type of music in which human voices sing along with the actual voice of the Earth. Stations features an all-star ensemble of vocalists and instrumentalists, including Hanna Benn, Janie Cowan, Masayoshi Fujita, Stuart Hyatt, Laraaji, Qasim Naqvi, and Brad Weber. The deluxe vinyl edition includes a bonus digital album of peer reviews by Deantoni Parks, Green-House, Olga Wojciechowska, Afrodeutsche, Nathan Fake, Ben Chatwin, Sophia Loizou, Amulets, Penelope Trappes, and Alva Noto.
Maples, Ash, and Oaks: Cedars Instrumentals
Maples, Ash, and Oaks: Cedars Instrumentals is a mesmerizing soundtrack for a long walk in the woods, made up of pedal steel, oud, guitar, hurdy-gurdy, and piano. Based on the original Field Works album Cedars, this new suite of instrumental music brings the listener even deeper into the forest. For this special limited-edition release, Stuart Hyatt deconstructed each track from Cedars and rebuilt them one layer at a time. He removed the narrators’ voices and invited Julien Marchal to introduce piano as the new protagonist. The 15 new tracks are named from each line of the new poem, Deciduous, by Cecily Parks. The musical frameworks are based on the Field Works album Cedars, created by Marisa Anderson, Fadi Tabbal, and Stuart Hyatt – and performed by Julien Marchal, Youmna Saba, Dena El Saffar, Danny Paul Grody, Bob Hoffnar, Stuart Hyatt, Tomás Lozano, Nathan Bowles, Alex Roldan, Fadi Tabbal, and Marisa Anderson. The forest soundscape was recorded by Harrison Ridley in the Welsh countryside.
CEDARS
The mystifying 9th album in the Field Works series, Cedars combines cosmic Americana with Western ambient and Middle Eastern influences. Delicate layers of pedal steel, banjo, oud, and hurdy-gurdy float atop looping guitar drones to create a soothing, atmospheric chamber where folk and electronic music coalesce. Set to Arabic and English poetry, the song cycle examines some of Earth’s most iconic and ancient forests, revealing our complicated relationship with the natural world. For this special dual-language release, Field Works producer Stuart Hyatt has assembled a supergroup of musicians, poets, and artists. The album is narrated by Youmna Saba and H.C. McEntire. Instrumentalists include Marisa Anderson, Fadi Tabbal, Dena El Saffar, Danny Paul Grody, Bob Hoffnar, Tomás Lozano, Nathan Bowles, Alex Roldan, Youmna Saba, and Stuart Hyatt. Renowned illustrator María Medem brings poems by Todd Fleming Davis and Youmna Saba to life in the accompanying full-color Risograph comic book; and longtime Field Works collaborators PRINTtEXT design the packaging.
Ultrasonic
Stuart Hyatt returns with another sonic wonder in the Field Works series, bringing the listener into truly uncharted acoustic territory. Ultrasonic is perhaps the first-ever album to use the echolocations of bats as compositional source material. For this special album, Hyatt has assembled an extraordinary group of contributors: Eluvium, Christina Vantzou, Sarah Davachi, Ben Lukas Boysen, Machinefabriek, Mary Lattimore, Felicia Atkinson, Noveller, Chihei Hatakeyama, John Also Bennett, Kelly Moran, Taylor Deupree, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Julien Marchal, and Player Piano. Ultrasonic is part of a broader storytelling project about the federally endangered Indiana Bat. Generously funded by the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute and the National Geographic Society, each album contains an official printed booklet of The Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Initial Sounds
A two-album set containing ancient sounds from deep space and deep within our planet. Part 1 explores Earth’s primordial soundscape, from glaciers to volcanoes. Part 2 expands into outer space by sampling the chirps of gravitational waves. Music by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Dan Deacon, The Field, Pantha du Prince, Gazelle Twin, Visible Cloaks, and Stuart Hyatt. Visual Art by Nina Elder.
Glen Rose Formation
Suites of pedal steel and orchestral ambiance inspired by the landscape and unique geology of south central Texas. Narrated by 89-year-old Mary McGrath Curry, the music is built around resonant frequencies measured in the Cave without a Name. Composed and performed by the Field Works Ensemble. With remixes by Dntel, Matmos, Lusine, Rafiq Bhatia, and Luke Abbott. Visual Art by Soomin Jung.
The Fair State
A sonic meditation on the State of Indiana on its 200th birthday. Inspired by Stuart Hyatt’s audio field recordings made during the Indiana State Fair, the album captures the complexity of a place as it wrestles with the 21st Century. Composed and performed by Julien Marchal, Mary Lattimore, Enrique Ramirez, Grover Parido, and Stuart Hyatt. Featuring signed and numbered prints by Nathaniel Russell.
Born in the Ear
Following an original essay by Erik Anderson, the album documents the collision of urban and rural to create a complex sonic portrait of Lancaster County, PA. Music contributions from Juana Molina, Eluvium, The Album Leaf, Paul de Jong, Greg Davis, Loscil, Forrest Lewinger, and Stuart Hyatt. Artwork by Courtland Ellis.
Pogue’s Run
Music plotted along a humble waterway in Indianapolis. From its source, through the city, into a mysterious three-mile underground tunnel, and finally to the White River, Pogue’s Run represents the ongoing tension between nature and civilization. Music by Eluvium, Benoit Pioulard, Marcus Fischer, Rafael Anton Irisarri, and William Tyler. Original Essay by Ben H. Winters. Artwork by Casey Roberts.
The National Road
A 12-song cycle built around Stuart Hyatt’s audio field recordings made as he walked along a single street in Indianapolis. Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities provides the narrative framework as hundreds of fleeting moments are assembled into a sprawling sonic landscape. Music by Lali Puna, B. Fleischmann, Nick Zammuto, Lullatone, Daring Ear, Player Piano, Prototokyo, Forrest Lewinger, and Stuart Hyatt. Each track is paired with original artwork by Nathaniel Russell.