Label: RA (2) – RA-01 Format: Vinyl, LP Country: UK Released: 1979 Genre: Electronic Style: Field Recording, Ambient, Experimental
Robert Archer’s privately released 1979 LP Nature’s Dream Harp is something of a cult record for fans of very obscure self-funded recording experiments.For us, perhaps the zenith of private-press field-recording records, sat comfortably next to Jean-Yves Bosseur’s Musiques Vertes or Rose des vents from Pierre Mariétan, whilst still being incompatible to either.
Record geekery aside, Archers concept is this.His homemade Aeolian Harp (named Devaharp 1) is somewhere between a string instrument and a receiver.Its strings are agitated by the wind without any human interference, producing tones entirely of its own volition.Archer toured the British Isles setting up his harp (at this point you should flick through the pictures for reference) in various sacred or loosely mystical locations and let the wind do it’s thing.Archer’s detailed accompanying notes suggests that the Devaharp is just a transmitter of an otherwise unknown sacred music that exists, or better put always HAS existed around us.You’re welcome to come to your own conclusions about that.
But sat here, listening to the natural swells of the strings and their unusual tonalities, the billowing wind and bird song overhead, it feels divinely calm, hauntingly beautiful and comforting.Something like tapping into the natural resonance of mother gaia or being back inside the womb.(NM/NM - original deadstock records with facsimile reproduced sleeves, with both inserts)
Tracklist A1 Sunrise Over The Woods And Fields A2 The Chant Of Glastonbury Tor A3 Water Breezes B1 The Chorus Of The Hills And Skies B2 The Song Of Iona B3 Ocean Airwaves
