The Wind of Things

Directed by Daniel Obzejta & Ang Frances Wilson

The Wind of Things

by M. Sage

supported by

justin spicer Sage and his collaborators’ more experimental habits are trimmed down into stoic passages of compartmentalization. Melodies become rhythmic patterns, yet the bubbling brooks, lazy waves, and stiff breezes of nature provide the areas of spontaneity. Favorite track: Launching Mossy Scow.

Admo An album of fractured, kaleidoscopic grandeur, "The Wind of Things" finds M. Sage and his Spinnaker Ensemble traveling across a landscape dotted with influences in folk, neoclassical, jazz, ambient, and Musique concrète. A mesmerizing work. Favorite track: Dazzling Shallow Bay.

nandikesha okay but seriously album of the year Favorite track: Zephyr: Ponderosa Pollen.

more...

more...

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

$9 USD or more
Limited Edition Sea-Haze Blue Vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of The Wind of Things via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

Sold Out
The Wind of Things 12" - Fundraiser Artist Copies
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
12" sea haze blue (clear with blue blob) vinyl record released by Geographic North. All funds raised by the sale of these artist copy records will go to the National Parks Foundation. Price includes US media mail shipping. US ORDERS ONLY, PLEASE AND THANKS.

Includes unlimited streaming of The Wind of Things via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

Sold Out

1.	Cloud Plexus 03:51	buy track
2.	Harbor Dive 02:24	buy track
3.	Launching Mossy Scow 02:53	buy track
4.	Zephyr: Ponderosa Pollen 03:34 video	buy track
5.	Starboard Reach 01:02	buy track
6.	Luffing Adrift 02:49	buy track
7.	Sail-Shaped Light 02:20	buy track
8.	Slipping the Mooring/Pond 03:55	buy track
9.	Dazzling Shallow Bay 02:37	buy track
10.	Portside Mark 01:05	buy track
11.	Tell Tail Tale 03:00	buy track
12.	Spinnaker on a Southerly 03:07	buy track
13.	Hiked Way Out 04:13	buy track

about

Matthew Sage is about seeing the big picture, but focused through the most intimate and personal lens possible. Best exemplified on the gauzy, cartographical opus 'A Singular Continent', as well as his impulsively meditative Geographic North debut 'Catch a Blessing', Sage’s imagination yields fully realized sonic suites to worlds both imaginary and referential to his own.

Now, the Chicago-based composer, producer, label owner, and publisher returns with 'The Wind of Things', a personal and pastoral oblation to the wild and wind-blown waters and mountains, both from Sage’s own memory and writ large. Absent are the processed sounds and filters that have come to define Sage's work; the album finds Sage stripping away the synthesized sounds that alchemied his past work into aural gold, instead favoring an entirely acoustic and natural
palette.

Sage called upon a myriad of long-time collaborators, who together form the aptly-titled Spinnaker Ensemble (featuring Patrick Shiroishi, Chaz Pyrmek, Nate Henricks, Chris Jusell, Allison Sheldon, Martin Albertz, David Hirsch, Matt Wenzel, and Ang Wilson) to help realize his vision and further the melodic potential of the living and breathing field recordings that permeate the album. Tapping into an intimate sense of self, these field recordings derive from natural places that are significant to Sage. Lakes, mountains, and rivers he grew up boat-racing on and swimming in; tall fields of grass in rural Nebraska near his family’s birthplaces; wildlife on the pond of his in-laws home in Texas; the harbors and beaches of Lake Michigan that he frequents; all serving as places of occupation for these compositions to live in and blow through.

Opener “Cloud Plexus” is a fog-laden float in a calm lake of unrestrained optimism. The serenity soon glissades into “Harbor Dive”, a shimmering and elegant rift of sloshing harmonies. “Launching Mossing Scow” finds its flourish in the flotsam, tinkering with rusted refrains and oblong melodies. The action quickens with “Zephyr: Ponderosa Pollen,” charting a speedy course with only a shoddy sonic sextant as its guide. “Starboard Reach” offers a moment of playful clarity before “Luffing Adrift” and “Sail-Shaped Light,” a murky pool of darkness and light that ripples into the ether.

“Slipping the Mooring/Pond” opens the B-side in an amorphous din of familiar auditory accoutrements that gather into a single, slow-motion blur. “Dazzling Shallow Bay,” “Portside Mark,” and “Tell Tail Tale” play a dreamlike suite of a waterside piano finding its fins and diving below the waves, discovering its blithe buoyancy, and exploring the depths unencumbered by the weight of the world. The hopeful meditation of “Spinnaker on a Southerly” serves as a calm before the (rain)storm that is “Hiked Way Out,” a welcome reflection on past, present, and future maritime melancholia.

credits

released April 16, 2021

PERSONNEL AND INFORMATION:

Matthew Sage:
acoustic guitar, piano, flute, whistle, bells, autoharp, harmonica, banjo, voice, violin, percussion, field recordings.

Accompanied by the Spinnaker Ensemble:
Martin Albertz - Piano (13)
Nate Henricks - Viola, Trumpet (1, 7)
David Hirsch - Slide Guitar (3, 6)
Mercy Bish Jelly - Musical Saw (13)
Chris Jusell - Violin (2, 6, 11)
Chaz Prymek - Harmonium (2, 12)
Allison Sheldon - Cello (1, 12)
Patrick Shiroishi - Tenor Saxophone (4), Clarinet (12)
Matt Wenzel - Tenor Saxophone (8), Banjo (1,8)
Ang Wilson - Flute (2, 7, 11, 12)

Recorded in Late Summer thru Late Fall of 2019. Portage Park, Chicago, Illinois.
Field Recordings from: Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin.
Photographs by Peggy Sage
Audio mastering for digital and vinyl by Sean McCann
Layout and design by Farbod Kokabi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Tiffanie Lynette, Mick & Peggy, Roger & Bobbie, Siblings & Niblings. Dave & Nathaniel. Bobby & Farbod. Sean. Shayne. The accompanying musicians, too, thanks! Also, many wild locales and the winds and water there that fill a memory: Lake McConaughy, Carter Lake, Grand Lake, Lake Dillon, Lake Michigan, Shadow Mountain Lake, Horsetooth Reservoir, Big Thompson River, Cache La Poudre River, the Piney Woods.

license

subtotal
taxes calculated at checkout

about

M. Sage Colorado

colorado front range intermedia artist, musician, composer

matthewjsage.com

contact / help

Contact M. Sage

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like M. Sage, you may also like:

Promises
by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra

supported by 119 fans who also own “The Wind of Things”

this album is the justification for the hundreds of hours this year alone i have put into listening to albums. this record has so much versatility, it could be very legitimately used as background noise, or it could be a full-blown story that takes you down many winding paths of tension and emotion. the only difference between these two scenarios is whatever you wanted this album to be. if you havent already, please let this be the reason that you check this album out :3 kaycs
go to album
Wants A Diamond Pivot Bright
by M. Sage

supported by 111 fans who also own “The Wind of Things”

Excellent pressing of this beautiful LP. Labels charging orders of magnitude more for pressings that are scuffed up, off center, and noisy should take note. And it comes with an anti static sleeve to boot. Buy the record, you’ll love it! fbreech
go to album
Shade
by Grouper

supported by 102 fans who also own “The Wind of Things”

can't pick a favorite song. This album came sideways at me out of the blue, doing heavy lifting and excavating that no qualified mental health practitioner could. Thanks Liz Jeremiah Perry-Weed
go to album
Mouthfeel / Serene
by Sam Gendel & Josiah Steinbrick

featured on Bandcamp Radio May 25, 2021
go to album
How to Download a Glass of Water
by Yaaard

featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 2, 2019
go to album
placeholder
by Hand Habits

A weary-eyed folk reflection on modern relationships, Meg Duffy's latest album is as tender as it is tumultuous. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 7, 2019
go to album
Sketch for Winter IX: Perlita
by Carmen Villain

supported by 94 fans who also own “The Wind of Things”

Muted, greyscale ambient that aptly mimics the introspective calm and leaden stillness of winter. Hushed pads rise and curl like frosted mists, brittle rhythmic elements crunch and crack, and there's a resigned sense of solitude that permeates every second. This isn't quite as vibey and whimsical as "Only Love From Now On," but it's still a worthy addition to Villain's growing discography. PannionSeer
go to album