We first posted about Maine’s Earth Person on our list of the best free music in 2012. That release, Summer Recordings, was a bedroom electronic project that was influenced by ‘the current feeling in our culture that our species, the planet, and the universe are going through great changes and fluctuations.’ It was an interesting listen, a cross between folk and electronic music that wasn’t afraid to experiment, not just treading where the two genres meet but voyaging deep into both fields. The sound was exotic, a blend of the tropical and far eastern jams that were so popular in the chillwave scene, combined with a variety of different vocals, from spoken word samples and strange chants to a much more personal singer-songwriter style and even a rap/hip-hop style.
The result was very effective and achieved something which I always find very interesting – the collection of songs seem to have different intentions or goals depending on how closely you listened. On the surface, ‘The Wild Planet’ and ‘Girgore Lese’ are laidback songs to play on a summer’s day, ‘Children of the Future’ a restrained folk song. However, if you delve deeper into the lyrics and the explanation of the album on Bandcamp, you realise that there is further meaning here. Earth Person has a message for us, a hopful message, one which serves as a refreshing antidote to the usual doom and gloom of conservation issues. He suggests a radical change, conventional opinions are to be tossed out for something that is kinder to both nature and humans. His music is a celebration of the world, a celebration which includes human beings just as it includes any other part of the system. It warns that we cannot exploit the planet, but also refuses to delve into cheap finger-pointing and high-horsery.
The next release, Winter Demo, continued the experimentation with electronic and folk sounds to continue this kind ideology. I think it’s fair to say that the folk element is stronger here, with ‘Cold Moon’ sounding like a remixed Fleet Foxes track (I mean that in a good way) and ‘A World You Can Buy’ that comes off somewhere between The Beatles and Of Montreal, a ode to the colourful but restrained sounds of the 60s/ early 70s.
To complete the round-up, Earth Person’s latest release, Spring Demo, is a further evolution of the folk/electronic experiment. ‘When Spring Arrives the Earth Exhales’ is more in the electronic camp, sounding like something Sun Airway might put out. Either side of this are tracks which hark back to an older time, some relaxed, quasi-psychedelic age where no one has to worry about anything.
While the whole of Earth Person’s catalog is probably most suited to the summer, Spring Demo, recorded over a spring break, (unsurprisingly) has definite spring vibes. The opening track gently opens up to quiet vocals reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens, evoking the stereotypical ‘spring’ images of growth and a vulnerable beauty. It is all rather lovely stuff.
The three releases are available on Bandcamp on a pay-what-you-can basis. Each one is an interesting listen that should hopefully make you think a little, even if you don’t quite subscribe to the new-age ideas. All of the wonderful artwork is courtesy of Kenny Cole.