Spun #8

Peter Kilham
The Sea at Castle Hill / The Alexander Hamilton of the Hudson River Day Line
Droll Yankees Inc. DY15

Two sides of natural sound, field-recorded and edited together in 1963 by Peter Kilham. The Droll Yankees label specialized in the sounds and stories of (old) New England, especially those of water, birds, boats, and trains. Here's a discography someone made with nice images and brief descriptions of each release.

The first side takes us to a spot on the Atlantic called Castle Hill, in Newport, Rhode Island, where there are a lot of waves crashing on rocks, seagulls shouting and singing, and bells tolling once in a while. The second side gives us a ride up the Hudson on a triple deck steamer called the Alexander Hamilton with several whistle salutes and specific recordings of different parts of the boat.

At times I'm reminded of one of my favorite ambient noise artists, BJ Nilsen, aka Hazard, who made a lot of recordings of wind and forests and distant generators. The music in all of his sounds and the ones on this record slowly begins to reveal itself once you get your ears in the right place.

Listen.