Philadelphia is the birthplace of liberty in the United States / While like many American cities it has experienced a Renaissance in the past twenty years, it is still marked by many of its charming old school features—cheesesteak stands, narrow streets, local dives, sports mania, and the unforgettable Philly accent and its variants by neighborhood / In this album I visit a little of the new and the old, not to mention popular locations and more obscure ones / (Unfortunately for us, the Liberty Bell no longer rings) I made this record with the mentality that music is everywhere / However, the recording process revealed to me at a deeper level just how musical everyday noises are / This not only includes the obvious instances like the rhythm of a train but also subtler phenomena such as the melody sung by a set of truck tires as they roll along the highway / It’s a common complaint that most of us are bombarded by distractions—music, videos, social media / I wonder if we no longer trust in our surroundings to provide contentment, and as a result we miss a lot of beautiful things, including music that would be waiting for us if we would only listen for it / I’d like my album to present a compelling argument on behalf of this contingent music that occurs all around us every day / Boethius spoke of the harmony of the spheres, but the street corner also has its own harmony that is often sung by the unlikeliest of singers / This is the first album I’ve made which is strictly field recording based / I would like to thank Bivouac Recording for the opportunity to participate in this rewarding project //
About The Artist:
Michael Lawrence (@MichaelLawrenceMusic) moved to Philadelphia in 2006 from central Pennsylvania / He has been a musician for most of his life, beginning with piano and later adding trumpet and pipe organ studies / Until he broke into the rock scene as the trumpet player in The Robotrippers, a local Philly band, he had worked solely within the confines of classical music, holding positions such as music director in churches, as well as assistant organist on the Wanamaker Organ, the world’s largest functioning pipe organ, located in Philadelphia / In 2016, when the opportunity to work out of a friend’s music studio presented itself, he began field recording, having been inspired by the likes of Steve Reich, Henry Jacobs, and others / A published composer and writer, he is an advocate not only for avant-garde music but also work that transcends genre //
