Mark Brennan
Nature sounds/phonography/Environmental sound artist.
RELEASES FACEBOOK VIMEO SOUNDCLOUD FINE ART STOCK MEDIA
"From Shore To Sanctuary", Download Release. $7.95
From Shore To Sanctuary is an in depth discovery of the Wild Soundscapes and phonography of Nova Scotia. From its Northern Coast into its deep remaining forests and wetlands we explore these places through the recorded soundscapes of Mark Brennan. With over 30 original recordings edited into three 22 minute long tracks, From Shore To Sanctuary takes you on an audio journey through Nova Scotia’s more wild places. This release captures the essence of the soundscape of Nova Scotia, the recordings tell a story of how we listen and what we hear around the province. You will hear the pristine wilderness areas, the honest days work of the inshore fishermen off shore to a rumbling train chugging out of the mist late one spring night and even the sounds of an Ice Breaker some 14km offshore.
An accomplished landscape painter, Mark Brennan now brings you his love of wild places in the form of sound. “The album has been edited as if I were working on a painting, I have given each track form, substance, focal points and balance to produce what I think is an audio journey for the listener through the soundscape of Nova Scotia, the way it really is.".....more
"The Wild Places, Sounds of the Boreal Forest", Download Release $7.95
"The Wild Places" album. The original album is 60 mintues of recordings from Wild Earth Voices, soundscapes of 2010. Wilderness locations throughout Nova Scotia feature, including the Cape Breton Highlands, Old Growth Acadian and Red Spruce forests, Boreal Wetlands and the Atlantic Coast.
"Atlantic Headland", Download Release $7.95
he Atlantic Headland Field Recording is almost an hour long, unedited capture of the pristine Atlantic coastline of Nova Scotia. The location for the recording, Taylor Head is a fantastic place to visit at any time of the year. What makes it special is its Boreal headlands that jut out into the Atlantic ocean creating an eco-system all of its own.
This field recording happened on May 18th 2010 just after daylight. It was a long treck to get to this location with all of my gear! What you hear is a misty cove recorded below the high water mark. The dawn chorus that morning was magnificent. It also features the Lobster fishermen just offshore going about their daily routine in Spring.
The album, Ancient Forest, took a year too record. Within these recordings you will hear the soundscape of an increasingly rare eco-system, the old growth virgin forest. Recorded on location in Abraham Lake, an old growth, virgin, Red Spruce and Hemlock forest in Nova Scotia, Canada, “Ancient Forest” will take you deep into this living cathedral in a listening experience that will captivate and relax you.
"I was compelled to produce this work because of the rarity of this place, many of the sounds you hear are the same sounds that echoed through these trees thousands years ago and because it has never been touched by humans the soundscape is perhaps as close to true wilderness as you can experience". Mark Brennan.
The track 'Boreal Forest Sunrise' was recorded nearby in an ancient wetland at the moment the sun rose into the spires of the Black Spruce and alder swamp in early June of 2011.
"Protecting the ecology of the planet should be one of our most important tasks today. I hope this album works towards raising awareness of how important these places are, not just for human to find both spiritual and emotional health but also to help us become more aware of the intrinsic value of all living things."
View the short film - Mark recording the Track, "Standing With The Trees" on location.
Poetry In The Forest, Thoughts By A Stream.
A poem written and filmed in an Old Growth Forest during late fall of 2011.
For The Earth, the passing of David Orton
Sound can tell us many things, this was something I promised myself I would do. The Deep Green philosopher, Earth activist and supporter of Deep Ecology, David Orton was a friend and mentor to me for many years. He died yesterday (May 12th 2011) after a lifetime fighting for the Earth. Read and Listen
Dec 3rd 2011, Rural Soundscape
Ambient sounds of a rural 'backyard' on December 3rd 2011 in Nova Scotia on Canada's East Coast just after sunrise. This is a binaural recording. Listen with headphones for the full effect.
Saturday Morning Binaural by wildearthvoices
Abrahams Lake, Old Growth Forest Gem, Soundscape Walk
Mark explores the meaning of silence in the remote Nature Conservancy’s Abrahams Lake location, a 'living museum' located in Central Nova Scotia it boasts some of the last remaining old growth forests in this region. In our busy modern lives, silence seldom gets a second thought, but what can nature give us in the way of quiet? Follow Mark along the trail of this old growth forest and listen to the early morning dawn chorus as well as his thoughts on this special place. Listen.
New film,The Acadian Forest, the story so far.
A year in the making, this film is my response to the loss of an Acadian Forest I used to record and paint in. It was clear cut in 2010.
This film is a response to the loss, by clear cutting, of a piece of Acadian Forest in my local area by Wagner Forest Management Ltd in the fall of 2010. This ecosystem backed onto a large wetland and was part of a watershed for a nearby river. The reason for making this film is an attempt to draw attention to the increasing loss of the indigenous forests of Maritime Canada and the North Eastern United States to industrial forestry, while also highlighting the responding loss in the flora and fauna of this bioregion.
The film explains how the forest industry, with government help through lack of protection, slowly turns a thriving habitat into a tree plantation, while also shedding light on the forestry PR department’s favorite myth that replanting is a good thing. You can view a newspaper article on the film here from the Pictou Advocate.
"....We will never mimic wild nature, not through art or sound, it is why we must get out and experience it, learn to love it, protect it, cherish it, and in doing so we come to understand our place within it. " Mark Brennan, 2011
