Chris Watson: Weather Report

Label: Touch

Britain Chris Watson has been gaining admirer’s lately from his soundtrack work for Richard Attenborough’s Earth series, and now his classic 2003 recording, Weather Report, has finally been re-issued. Watson is one of the world’s leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, and on Weather Report you find him at his artistic peak. There are three pieces, each roughly 18 minutes long, each a collage of field recordings from different parts of the world: Kenya’s Masai Mara, a Scottish highland glen and an Icelandic glacier. Can you hear ice? You can in Watson’s world, and it’s a world you don’t want to miss, a world where, in his words, he puts a microphone where you can’t put your ears. Everything here is mother nature, from the roar of animals to the chirping of birds to the moving of ice glaciers. Who needs a white noise machine? Put Weather Report on endless repeat and let yourself drift away.