Background to the Music:
For all Earthkind emerged out of a project called Extreme Seasons. It began development in 2013 with the Ironwood Ensemble as Artist-in-Residence at Bundanon.
The initial spark was the curious thought of what would Vivaldi’s iconic work, The Four Seasons sound like if he had come from Australia. Indeed from many indigenous viewpoints Australia has 6 seasons.
Upon investigating the original work I discovered that there were in fact sonnets written for each season, specific to each movement (3 per season). These words serve as small descriptors for the story Vivaldi’s music illustrates. It’s not just an aesthetic expression of the seasons in Europe. The Four Seasons is a pre-industrial pastoral idyll revelling in the human activities in rhythm with the seasons.
Consequently I became excited by the idea of taking Vivaldi’s approach and applying it to today. How could we give expression to the human story of our post Industrial excess and our unbalancing relationship with the natural world.
What would these struggling ecosystems sound like?
What would the human stories be as we come to terms with what we have done to the planet?
We began reviewing the Four Seasons through this prism. Taking inspiration from Vivaldi’s structure and sound world but by no means slave to it, constructing a new vision. The shape of the work became more elemental than seasonal. Stories from the land, stories from the oceans. We also explored the inclusion of aerial performers and projection. But what felt quite clear was that Extreme Seasons needed to end in Spring (rather than Winter) with a sense of renewal and hope.
FOR ALL EARTHKIND emerges
So FOR ALL EARTHKIND began it’s incarnation as the finale to this grander work, taking inspiration from the 2nd movement of Spring – largo. To me the music is sublime, other worldy and unbelievably beautiful. The image of Earth from space came to mind, with all her majesty, wonder and vulnerability. I felt there was a parable of sorts to be found. That extraordinary journey and moment in history where we set off for the moon and yet discovered something far more profound than our own ambition.
By the end of that development period I had a sketch for the entire Extreme Seasons concept. There was particular progress with 4 of the 12 movements. The Spring- Largo was certainly the clearest and most advanced.
Revisiting the idea now, many years on, I invited my good friend and the much admired Tony King, award winning songwriter and multi instrumentalist to collaborate with me on this finale “movement” and breath life back into the project.
The Demo
After looking through the last COP26 in detail the song took its current form. Lyrically it connects the last grand narrative of human history with the last summits prevailing plea, which is in summary: we are ready to leap, when will our leaders lead?
The recording demonstrates the songs potential scope for multiple soloists and chorus. In the spirit of Bandaid of the 80’s, it could be re-versioned to be more pop rock or even dub. It also shows the potential to lean towards an orchestral massed forces live performance version, super boosting the Vivaldi sound world from a chamber piece to Symphonic.
LISTEN BELOW TO VERSION WITHOUT SOUND BITES
For all Earthkind 