Just over a decade ago, Darcy Spidle (aka chik white) moved to West Chezzetcook, a small coastal village outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Around that time a friend gave him a toy jaw harp as a birthday gift. The harp worked well enough that Spidle became obsessed with playing it, and he became especially fond of taking it on hikes along the rugged coastline near his home. For Spidle, jaw harp and the sea have been intertwined ever since, a fact well documented throughout his substantial discography.

As his jaw harp technique advanced, so did Spidle’s use of ocean recordings. The early recordings are simple: rhythmic drones on the harp and waves pounding in the distance. Later releases involve more abstract engagement with the instrument and increasingly experimental approaches to capturing marine audio—recording from a musical raft adrift at sea, noisemining magnet tape dredged from the ocean floor, amplifying hurricane wind, etc. With his talk at the CMC, Darcy will attempt to explain the evolution of his work as both a jaw harp player and field recordist.

Admission is Free

If you cannot join in person, tune in to the Livestream of the presentation!

Banner Image Credit: Alex Pearson