From Lauri:
The sounds of nature have had a profound impact on me, miraculously. It started when I was a little boy, and it has been possible because I was born in a remote area, a small farm surrounded by nature which beauty and purity overwhelmed me.
This was a significant factor in my life, becoming an adult, when I was involved in an explosion accident while serving Finnish army.
I became blind and lost an arm. At that moment, I was afraid I also lost connection with nature.
However, when I got out from the hospital and meandered again in my homeland, I noticed I could hear things which I never heard before the accident. My ears opened to hear the sounds of nature as rich Soundscapes…
Many years passed and one day I got hold on a Finnish record involving sounds of nature; that sounded like beautiful music. From that moment, I decided to records the sounds of nature in my own way…
This project got started when Emmanuel took contact with me and asked if he could create ‘Electronic Music’ along with the recordings of the nature I had produced. In that way, "Leaves Stories" is our first true collaboration, as the result of a process involving many layered iterations and blending digital and analogue techniques. The piece seeks to combine natural sounds and electronic music in the way that these two unusual worlds complete each other’s.
The autumn wind in forest has a lot of distinctive shades, and with this piece Emmanuel has managed to strengthen the state of mind that sounds of Autumn's forest grant us years after years. The Soundscape has been recorded in a mixed forest nearby a lake with high grown reeds. At that moment, the wind blows from the forest to the lake, so there are no sounds of water ripples.
Credits:
Nature recordings by Lauri,
Music by Lauri's & Emmanuel's 'alchemy',
Keyboards play and programming, mastering by Emmanuel.
Cover work by Emmanuel, with photo from Mikko Palosaari:
flickr.com/photos/palosaari/
More from Lauri @Kultasointu:
personal.inet.fi/yritys/kultasointu/
More from Emmanuel @Bandcamp:
eeem.bandcamp.com
released May 11, 2014
Emmanuel Toledo & Lauri Halikainen