A Soundscape for Early Summer: The Fog in Lilac Waves

(Island Waters 2- Painting by Kevin Macneil Brown,
acrylic on canvas board, 2008)



Below is a hazy ambient piece I made on four track cassette about fifteen years ago.
The sonic elements include various sounds recorded through my open studio window and layers of direct-recorded electric guitar. (A borrowed 1965 Guild Starfire that I still really miss!)
This source material was looped and layered utilizing the now-vanished technology of endless telephone answering machine cassettes. ( Somewhere I have a big box full of these short tape loops; I suspect that listening to them now might unlock many lost memories. iframe width="400" height="100" style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=2535816022/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0">The Fog in Lilac Waves by Kevin Macneil Brown

North Shore Light

North Shore Light, 1 and 2 (Paintings by Kevin Macneil Brown,
acrylic on canvas board, April 2009)


North Shore Light


Something happened this
morning so that
the warmth of rising sun
on my face was

strong as the knowing of god,
or the heat of human love.


I could turn my back
on all of this, even
look away completely, but

I’d still
feel it in full.

It’s as if there were
more than one
sunrise today,
and from more than one
direction.


I could be forever
uselessly
describing this,
so maybe it’s best to

Triangulate:

In this moment, here I am,
on this beach in north shore light

Over there, to my left and
inland,
stands Our Lady of Good Voyage
with her bells and lilac breezes

Over there, to my right and
offshore,
those mountains of waves rise,
with clearing fog, and gliding
ships.

And in all this

the living
north shore light
now finding,

beginning

another voyage


-Kevin Macneil Brown