New tracks from the likes of David Bowie, Brian Eno, Aurora and London Grammar have been shared, in which they join forces with ‘Nature’. Check out the new playlist below.
Launched by The Museum for the United Nations, the project is called Sounds Right, and is developed to both spark a global conversation about the value of nature and galvanise people to take meaningful action to protect our planet.
The initiative comes in the lead-up to Earth Day (April 22), and sees Mother Nature become recognised as an official artist with her own profile on major streaming platforms – where music lovers can listen to the eclectic mix of sounds from the natural world, including ocean waves, wind, rainstorms and birdsong.
It also sees ‘Nature’ join forces with a diverse mix of global artists, who have either released new tracks or remixed some of their hits to collaborate with sounds from the natural world.
David Bowie and Brian Eno’s track ‘Get Real’ is featured – now remixed by the latter to incorporate the harsh cries of hyenas, rooks and wild pigs – as is Ellie Goulding’s ‘Brightest Blue – Nature Remix’, which uses sounds from the lush rainforests of Colombia recorded by VozTerra.
“Throughout my life I’ve wondered – how I can return something to the places I’ve taken ideas from? Music started out as the sounds of the natural world, and Sounds Right creates a system to give back to nature, helping to preserve the planet so that it can continue to inspire us for years to come,” said Eno of his feature.
“In the nature remix of ‘Get Real’, a track I co-wrote with David Bowie 30 years ago, the animals are invading the song – it’s like it has sprung leaks everywhere and these animals are coming in through every window and crack between the doors. They’re sort of threatening – suddenly Nature has crept into the art.”
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Other contributions on the playlist include Anuv Jain’s song ‘Baarishein’, which features the sounds of Indian rains, Cosmo Sheldrake’s ‘Soil’, which is a homage to the powerful transformative and generative capacities of subterranean ecosystems, and “Orange Skies” – a song which sees Louis VI collaborate with acoustic ecologist Martyn Stewart and focuses on the environmental destruction caused by forest fires, with sounds from the Borneo rainforest.
Aurora also features on the playlist, as does UMI with V of BTS, Tom Walker, London Grammar, Los Amigos Invisibles and more.
The goal of Sounds Right is to raise money for global conservation projects, and funds will be collected by the Brian Eno-founded charity EarthPercent and directed to threatened ecosystems around the world. It also comes “at a critical time” as Wildlife populations have declined by an average of nearly 70 per cent in the past 50 years and at least 1.2million plant and animal species are estimated to be at threat of extinction.
“The world is calling for us. And it has been for a really long time. We can feel deep inside of our very core, that something is wrong,” Aurora said of her contribution. “Working with my friend FREDRIK on ‘A Soul With No King’ has mended something in me. I understand where my anger comes from. And what to do with it. And having Brian Eno do a remix of our baby has been a dream. He and I are so connected, it felt very right to do something together. For the Earth. From the Earth.”
Check out the playlist in full below.
Discussing how the project arose, Katja Iversen, CEO for Museum for the United Nations – UN Live, said: “Popular culture, like music, has the power to engage millions and millions of people, ignite positive global change at scale, and get us all on a more sustainable path.
“In a world where empathy is declining and many people often feel that their actions hardly matter, Sounds Right and UN Live meet people where they already are – on their screens and in their earbuds – with stories and formats they can relate to, and actions that matter to them. Recognising nature as the valuable artist it truly is will be a game changer.”
Find out more about the initiative here.
In other news, Brian Eno recently announced the official soundtrack for his upcoming documentary film, Eno. The soundtrack will consist of 17 tracks, featuring “work from early solo outings, acclaimed collaborations with the likes of David Bryne, John Cale, Cluster and more recently, Fred again.. all the way through to music from his latest album, ‘FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE’, and his 2022 appearance at the Acropolis in Athens with brother Roger.”
Aurora, on the other hand, shared details of a new album titled ‘What Happened To The Heart?’ last month, and announced UK and European tour dates.
“We aren’t being given peace in this world. When I first began writing this chapter [of my work], I was looking at the history of the heart and what the heart has been a symbol for. Even before we knew about the anatomy of a human as scientifically as we do now, we talked about the heart and the core,” she explained.
Pointing to her chest, she added: “People knew that love is here, family is here, pain in here; we’ve known this for so many years. In ancient indigenous cultures, the heart was a symbol of spirituality: the gateway between us all.”