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Silent City

by Brian Harnetty

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1.
2.
The Top Hat 03:36
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4.
I see her sleeping in the driveway While the night is, and lights are Passing by Windows unclear from the trouble in her breath Windows closed I hear farm radio from the inside As the battery dies I see her sleeping in the driveway And as I did approach Headlights rush past me And so silly I crouch To hide When in a low whisper I heard I see her sleeping in the driveway Mama’s car When in a low whisper I heard How sweetly I sleep in here I heard How sweetly I sleep in here And I be still To hear still more
5.
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Silent City 04:36
7.
St. Patrick said Be still Said, I’m as old As the stars above Thermometers tell bad things to us And the night is drawing out And under the Winesap tree I lay into hide me While gathering storms rose around And they robbed me of my rest And there is a home shines bright and fair It is as old as stars above We’ll meet the ones that loved us there And know the source of hate and love St. Patrick said Be still Said where we go don’t you bring Any thoughts of what awaits thee Only know there we can sing Said you can't have an exchange With the source of hate and love Like sun it give and too like sun It’s as old as stars above It’s as old as stars above
8.
9.
10.
Mud mill Tobacco in the grass Some glad day we’ll all arrive This sweet comfort Is had Even here I bid my anxious fears subside And they will Until Brick-making prison Tobacco in the grass Some glad day we’ll all arrive This sweet comfort Is has Even here I bid my anxious fears subside And they will Until Apple orchard Tobacco in the grass Some glad day we’ll see we all arrived This sweet comfort Would be had Even here I bid my anxious fears subside And they will
11.
12.

about

“Working like a novelist, [Harnetty] has immersed himself in an archive of field recordings – slices of past lives – and now emerges to create a new text, breathing new life into old chunks of sound by radically recontextualising them.” — Clive Bell, The Wire

Late at night, just before closing; sleepy, between awake and dreaming; old jukebox, conversation, laughter––and then, transformation.

Silent City is the internationally acclaimed follow-up to Harnetty's 2007 debut, American Winter. Giving the album 5 out of 6 stars, France's Magic RPM Magazine states that Silent City creates a "new Appalachian sound," where "time stretches out before our eyes." The album is a mix of songs, instrumentals, and field recordings that are loosely centered around Junction City, Ohio: the small, rural town where Harnetty's father grew up. His family's apple orchard and home were across from a local cemetery, which they referred to as "silent city." The album features three collaborative tracks with Bonnie "Prince" Billy. It also features sampled recordings from the Berea Appalachian Sound Archives. 

Musician and author David Grubbs adds these words for Silent City: "A clock ticks 'til the day calls for me. It really does arrive. It really does cease. At 11AM the church bell across the street sounds its throb. It continues, and the rain stops after fifteen minutes. I think about the coming small disappointment."

credits

released August 11, 2009

Artwork: Nathaniel Parsons
Design: Yuri Ono
All samples are from the Berea Appalachian Sound Archives, and are used with permission.
Mastering: Jonathan Schenke, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago

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Brian Harnetty Columbus, Ohio

Interdisciplinary artist using sound and listening to foster social change. Recordings on Winesap, Karl, Dust-to-Digital, Atavistic, and Scioto Records.

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