Flight - a new project from Propellor for 2021

It's been quite a year...

Now is the time for new music

Now is the time for new ideas

Now is the time for collaboration

We're very excited to have the opportunity to start work on a new project that will unfurl over the next year. Propellor are creating a three-part podcast series called Flight, alongside one of the UK's leading authors on nature, Mark Cocker, and electronic musical pioneer/instrument builder Leafcutter John.

Flight will explore the interconnected worlds of birds, soundscape ecology and music, tracing lines between the birds of our imaginations and the science of our times. The series will also lay the groundwork for a touring installation and exciting developments in the way Propellor make new work and collaborate in the future!

Birds, Soundscape Ecology and Music

This last year has been hard. For everyone. For musicians the world over it's been a year of lost performances, lost tours, lost income, lost connection, lost creativity, lost opportunities, lost ambition... The list is long.

One thing we haven't lost is our passion and wonder at the natural world. We've all had the time to look up and out of ourselves. To open our ears to the vivid songs and chorus of life all around us. This new project will explore the connection between birds and us, that so many of us feel, and that Mark Cocker so wonderfully illuminates in his beautiful book, Birds and People.

Looking at this connection as a band will mean we can explore the sonic implications of soundscape ecology on our music, and bring these adventures to life for your ears. This project will also allow the group to think ambitiously about the kind of work we want to make now and in the future: collaborating with artists like Leafcutter John and developing environmentally conscious touring productions to inspire all ages.

So what is Soundscape Ecology?

"When researchers consider the effects of human-induced noise as a factor in biophonic loss, the results are notable because there is not much attention being paid to how animals or their respective habitats might be affected. From my experience and that of many visitors to the national parks, the introduction of noise into natural soundscape heightens that sense of loss."

Bernie Krause, Wild Soundscapes

In a nutshell, this is the study of the acoustic relationships between living organisms and their environment. Soundscape ecologists are interested in the relationships between the three soundscape elements that make up the soundscape: geophony (naturally occurring non-biological), biophony (vocalising animal) and anthropophony (produced by humans). Flight's aim is to draw lines between these ideas and the worlds of birds and music, into a soundtrack that will hopefully open up space for your own imaginations to take flight...

You can watch the video from our recent successful Kickstarter below.

More news coming VERY SOON!