Insect Summer of Love
Nature Sounds of 2004

This is not a professional CD outfit... I'm just an amateur who has always loved the sound of crickets and other singing insects. I wished I could find a recording that captured the beauty of a summer evening. Finally the affordable technology and software came along so I was able to create the dream recording myself.

These tracks are compilations of several months worth of sound clips obtained in local fields and forests. I had to edit these tracks extensively to remove the noise pollution of cars, airplanes and trash trucks. I then faded, panned and layered the clips to create a dynamic, natural-sounding, yet varied composition--a process similar to creating a painting. I did not want to create another canned, sterile-sounding "relaxation wallpaper" CD. I wanted to capture the vibrant, pulsing ambience of the real insect soundscapes of summer.   

By distributing this CD I hope to heighten people's awareness and sensitivity to Nature. I believe that an affinity with Nature is essential for spiritual health (as well as for our physical survival). We all have this need, and that is why people find these sound tracks relaxing, great for meditation, and good for the soul. These tracks are great therapy for those depressing, homebound winter days--or for those trapped inside man-made environments like hospitals or windowless offices. 

As a corollary to spiritual nourishment, I hope listeners will also be inspired to change old attitudes and habits. The singing insects featured on this album are in jeopardy from lawn chemicals, pesticides and the loss of habitat as developers bulldoze every bit of land they can get their hands on. I hope that those who have a lawn or garden will forgo the chemicals and pesticides. (What's so beautiful about a sterile lawn anyway?) Leave a few areas of "weeds" unmowed to grow naturally. Our cricket friends need this space to live. Insects are not "pests"; they are vitally important to the balance of life on this planet. (Much more essential than humans.) They deserve our respect.

To request a copy of this CD, email me at greenfeather1@hotmail.com with your name and address. If you can afford it, I would appreciate a donation to offset the cost of CD blanks, cases, labels, postage, and the recording equipment itself. $8.00 is good, but whatever you can afford is fine. If you represent a nature group and would like complimentary copies of this album as a fundraiser or for educational purposes, contact me.

To listen to samples in .mp3 format, click these links:

Brood X
Cicada
Early Crickets
Frogs
Cricket Chorus
Katydids
Autumn Crickets

What listeners have said about Insect Summer of Love:

"Best CD I ever heard! The voice of the wilderness--never heard anything like it, ever."
--Roxana

"It takes me back to long evenings at my mother's old homestead ... 17 years ago of course... makes this dismal winter's evening all bubbly!"
--Randall

 "Ears are in total bliss, listening, as they do every single minute ... to the world's greatest nature CD, Insect Summer of Love. If you want a copy, go to my friend Greenfeather's place and demand your right to party with the cicadas, crickets, frogs, doglets and cats of this universe! It'll be eternal summer for you too bigtime."
--Ellis