Elori Saxl – Earth Focus

Elori Saxl’s debut, The Blue of Distance – named after Rebecca Solnit’s observation in A Field Guide to Getting Lost, that faraway mountains appear blue – investigated the ways in which technology has altered our relationship to the environment. So who better to compose the soundtrack for PBS’s environmental documentary series, Earth Focus? Exploring the relationship between California’s wildlands and urban infrastructure, the season’s fifth instalment pays particular attention to the Los Angeles River, with Saxl’s score moving in a loose, almost liquid fashion.

Concrete River opens proceedings with strange watery chords that create a sense of tiny movements teeming inside a seeming stillness; like green shoots emerging through layers of cement. From the cheerful wanderlust of How We Got Here and Architectural Plans to the more urgent Taking Action, Saxl combines processed wind instruments and analog synths with digitally manipulated recordings of water to create an album that feels like a mass of possibilities; each pointing towards a world in which technology and nature can co-exist. Closing track Generations and Generations leaves us stranded in an expanse of synth clouds, ending the album on a note of hope and wonder; a generous parting gift when optimism about the climate is scarce.

Listen to: How We Got Here, Taking Action, Architectural Plans