Fern Canyon is enchanting.

My whole raison d’être with soundwalks is to bottle up that feeling. Enchantment. Fascination. Magnetism. These are the robust feelings that pictures and sounds alone often can’t quite stir up. I see music as the key.

The great thing about music, I believe, is you don’t have to be an expert. You don’t have to know music theory, and you don’t even have to know how to play an instrument better than, say, an eager first-year student. For me, making music is about opening up, being sensitive, exploring.

Sharing music can be more fraught. A little over a year ago, I decided to make a home here on Substack. At first, it felt like play; an adventure in publishing. It still does. But, there is some tension with the commerce part. Honestly I feel like I’m floundering with that part of being a Substack author. It’s not that I don’t like it. I’m on board with writers and artists monetizing their work. From my point of view, it’s just challenging to sustain that sense of play, while trying to casually sell some part of it.

Today, I’m trying something new, to keep the exploratory vibe alive. Fern Canyon Soundwalk is only available here. Not Spotify, not Bandcamp. Not Qobuz—I like Qobuz by the way. Just here, and in its entirety, just for paid subscribers. It’s a little slice of enchantment, and practically speaking, it’s hidden. It’s if you know, you know. You know? I’m not fancy. Subscriptions start at less than $3/mo.

I don’t know if I’ll get any “conversions” from this post; any new paid subscribers. I decided not to let keep me from trying though. It’s probable that I’m making the wrong decision in terms of “exploiting” my work—It seems to me I’d earn more on streaming platforms over time. That’s okay. I’ve always felt better about my place in the economy when I’m not fretting and optimizing.

Fern Canyon is in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, in Humboldt County California. It was formed by Home Creek.

This modest stream has over the eons carved a 50 to 80 foot deep canyon through the rich sedimentary soils. The canyon walls sprout an amazing variety of luxuriant ferns and other moisture-loving plants. (vistredwoods.com)

Composing and finalizing Fern Canyon Soundwalk had many twists and turns. In the end, I went for soft, supple, simple. It’s a very tender and naive composition, grounded in felted piano, with chimes and sparkly synths punctuating the arrangement, alongside a myriad of water sounds and sparse birdsong.

I usually end with a thank you for your interest. It’s not performative. I really mean it. That’s all I’m after here…to tell stories with sounds, music, images and words. Folks taking an interest keeps me going. Thank you all!

Soundwalk is a reader-supported publication. To be one of a handful of people to hear Fern Canyon Soundwalk in its entirety, consider becoming a subscriber.

Hello. Just wanted to let you know about my new 8 minute piece in 10 movements, Woods.

A few weeks ago I released a similar instrumental work entitled Coots, mentioning it was the first in a series released under the pseudonym “Crou”. It immediately felt like a mistake.

Not the music. (For someone who has never felt particularly self-confident as a musician, that was not the problem. I felt good about the music.) The problem was there was another artist going by Crou already, and though I professed the ambiguity of pronunciation appealed to me, I soon reasoned how it would not appeal to the likes of Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant in voice commands. Abort, abort, I thought on release day.

So goodby Crou, we hardly knew ya. Hello Sleeping Animal.

I like the new name. It’s been switched for the Coots release for over a week now, and it’s felt steady as she goes. It is one of ten releases I’ve served up to my distributor with release dates fanning out to September, so the name is pretty much set now. There’s plenty more Sleeping Animal to come!

Why Sleeping Animal? To me, the name has a warm, tender, and vulnerable connotation. It also doesn’t hurt that, as an artist who has to devoted himself to environmental and wildlife recording for the past five year, the name functionally alludes to not containing wildlife sounds. That appeals to me.

Starting from square one is always a hand-wringing affair, so if you enjoy it, do me a favor and tell one person about it. In an implacable algorithmic world, word-of-mouth is real.

Woods follows in the footsteps of Coots. Not having an environmental sound bed opens up space for a sonic nuance that I’ve been enjoying experimenting with.

And spoiler alert: The die is cast on monochrome cover art. I have another fun project to announce shortly that this aesthetic plays a big role in. Anyway, I’d be delighted if you gave Woods a listen.

The sophomore release Woods by Sleeping Animal is available on all music streaming sites (Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Tidal, Qobuz etc.) today, Friday, March 28th.