Wren Kitz, Cassette Tape
Natural History, Vol. 2. 2024
Star Island, Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire
The second volume of Wren Kitz’s 'Natural History' series transports listeners seven miles off the coast of New Hampshire to Star Island.
Home to one of the last original Grand Hotels, the Oceanic, visitors flock to this small craggy island every summer in search of a brief reprieve from life on the mainland. Steeped in tradition, ritual, and various connectivities, the many individuals and communities who visit have developed an uncanny relationship to Star Island, often referring to it as their "Spirit's Home.”
Along with the inescapable sound of waves crashing on Star Island's granite shoreline, Kitz introduces and ambles listeners through various subtleties and sometimes crude details of Star Island's acoustic landscape in both daytime and nighttime.
Dedicated to Josh Stedman
Recorded by Wren Kitz to tape on Star Island, Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire. Summer 2023.
Tape artwork by Abbey Meaker and Wren Kitz
©2024
Natural History, Vol. 2. 2024
Star Island, Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire
The second volume of Wren Kitz’s 'Natural History' series transports listeners seven miles off the coast of New Hampshire to Star Island.
Home to one of the last original Grand Hotels, the Oceanic, visitors flock to this small craggy island every summer in search of a brief reprieve from life on the mainland. Steeped in tradition, ritual, and various connectivities, the many individuals and communities who visit have developed an uncanny relationship to Star Island, often referring to it as their "Spirit's Home.”
Along with the inescapable sound of waves crashing on Star Island's granite shoreline, Kitz introduces and ambles listeners through various subtleties and sometimes crude details of Star Island's acoustic landscape in both daytime and nighttime.
Dedicated to Josh Stedman
Recorded by Wren Kitz to tape on Star Island, Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire. Summer 2023.
Tape artwork by Abbey Meaker and Wren Kitz
©2024
A. Daytime
On the Rocks, Facing East
'You Did Come Back' Chant
Truck Trestle/Truck Crew on the Kitchen Loading Dock
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Repairing Breakwater 1 Between Star and Cedar Islands
Banjo Player on Baker Porch
Power House
Chattering on the Pier
No Swim Beach
Beebe Cemetery Trench
Gosport Chapel
'Landlocked' by Celia Thaxter Excerpt Read by M.V. Thomas Laighton Tour Guide
B. Nighttime
Gosport Chapel Procession
Summer House
Perimeter Rd. Between Eastern Memorial Building and Doctors Cottage
The Dump
Walking the Perimeter Rd.: Art Barn to Stone Village
Walking the Perimeter Rd.: Shack to Truck Trestle
Rain and Gosport Chapel Bell from Oceanic Hotel Room 25
The End of the Pier
On the Rocks, Facing East
'You Did Come Back' Chant
Truck Trestle/Truck Crew on the Kitchen Loading Dock
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Repairing Breakwater 1 Between Star and Cedar Islands
Banjo Player on Baker Porch
Power House
Chattering on the Pier
No Swim Beach
Beebe Cemetery Trench
Gosport Chapel
'Landlocked' by Celia Thaxter Excerpt Read by M.V. Thomas Laighton Tour Guide
B. Nighttime
Gosport Chapel Procession
Summer House
Perimeter Rd. Between Eastern Memorial Building and Doctors Cottage
The Dump
Walking the Perimeter Rd.: Art Barn to Stone Village
Walking the Perimeter Rd.: Shack to Truck Trestle
Rain and Gosport Chapel Bell from Oceanic Hotel Room 25
The End of the Pier
Wren Kitz, Cassette Tape
Natural History, Vol. 1. 2022
Wren Kitz’s Natural History, Vol. 1 is a compilation of outdoor and wildlife recordings made in New England, 2019-2022. All sound was recorded with a 1960s Nagra III on 1/4 inch tape and a 1970s Nakamichi 550 on cassette tape. Everything you hear is as it sounded while it was recorded. There is no overdubbing.
Be transported to the shore of Stone Pond while the Loon wails, huddled in a blind by a swamp at the edge of a floodplain forest, and to the nightscape of Gosport Harbor, Isles of Shoals.
Wren Kitz, Cassette Tape
Natural History, Vol. 2. 2024
Star Island, Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire
The second volume of Wren Kitz’s 'Natural History' series transports listeners seven miles off the coast of New Hampshire to Star Island.
Home to one of the last original Grand Hotels, the Oceanic, visitors flock to this small craggy island every summer in search of a brief reprieve from life on the mainland. Steeped in tradition, ritual, and various connectivities, the many individuals and communities who visit have developed an uncanny relationship to Star Island, often referring to it as their "Spirit's Home.”
Along with the inescapable sound of waves crashing on Star Island's granite shoreline, Kitz introduces and ambles listeners through various subtleties and sometimes crude details of Star Island's acoustic landscape in both daytime and nighttime.
Natural History, Vol. 1. 2022
Wren Kitz’s Natural History, Vol. 1 is a compilation of outdoor and wildlife recordings made in New England, 2019-2022. All sound was recorded with a 1960s Nagra III on 1/4 inch tape and a 1970s Nakamichi 550 on cassette tape. Everything you hear is as it sounded while it was recorded. There is no overdubbing.
Be transported to the shore of Stone Pond while the Loon wails, huddled in a blind by a swamp at the edge of a floodplain forest, and to the nightscape of Gosport Harbor, Isles of Shoals.
Wren Kitz, Cassette Tape
Natural History, Vol. 2. 2024
Star Island, Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire
The second volume of Wren Kitz’s 'Natural History' series transports listeners seven miles off the coast of New Hampshire to Star Island.
Home to one of the last original Grand Hotels, the Oceanic, visitors flock to this small craggy island every summer in search of a brief reprieve from life on the mainland. Steeped in tradition, ritual, and various connectivities, the many individuals and communities who visit have developed an uncanny relationship to Star Island, often referring to it as their "Spirit's Home.”
Along with the inescapable sound of waves crashing on Star Island's granite shoreline, Kitz introduces and ambles listeners through various subtleties and sometimes crude details of Star Island's acoustic landscape in both daytime and nighttime.
Wren Kitz
Natural History, Vol. 1
Natural History, Vol. 1
Wren Kitz, Cassette Tape
Natural History, Vol. 1. 2022
Wren Kitz’s Natural History, Vol. 1 is a compilation of outdoor and wildlife recordings made in New England, 2019-2022. All sound was recorded with a 1960s Nagra III on 1/4 inch tape and a 1970s Nakamichi 550 on cassette tape. Everything you hear is as it sounded while it was recorded. There is no overdubbing.
Be transported to the shore of Stone Pond while the Loon wails, huddled in a blind by a swamp at the edge of a floodplain forest, and to the nightscape of Gosport Harbor, Isles of Shoals.
©2022
Natural History, Vol. 1. 2022
Wren Kitz’s Natural History, Vol. 1 is a compilation of outdoor and wildlife recordings made in New England, 2019-2022. All sound was recorded with a 1960s Nagra III on 1/4 inch tape and a 1970s Nakamichi 550 on cassette tape. Everything you hear is as it sounded while it was recorded. There is no overdubbing.
Be transported to the shore of Stone Pond while the Loon wails, huddled in a blind by a swamp at the edge of a floodplain forest, and to the nightscape of Gosport Harbor, Isles of Shoals.
©2022
Side A
On the Rocks, Facing East
'You Did Come Back' Chant
Truck Trestle/Truck Crew on the Kitchen Loading Dock
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Repairing Breakwater 1 Between Star and Cedar Islands
Banjo Player on Baker Porch
Power House
Chattering on the Pier
No Swim Beach
Beebe Cemetery Trench
Gosport Chapel
'Landlocked' by Celia Thaxter Excerpt Read by M.V. Thomas Laighton Tour Guide
Side B
Mourning Dove + Northern Cardinal, Spring Chorus - Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington, VT spring 2020
Chimes, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
Loon Wailing, bullfrogs, green frogs - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
Loon Wailing, peepers, toads - Marlborough, NH summer 2021
Mid-Day Cricket Chorus - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
Hummingbird wings + black bear cubs wrestling - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
Rain, Blue Jays - Marlborough, NH summer 2019
Nighttime cricket chorus, Barred Owl - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
On the Rocks, Facing East
'You Did Come Back' Chant
Truck Trestle/Truck Crew on the Kitchen Loading Dock
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Repairing Breakwater 1 Between Star and Cedar Islands
Banjo Player on Baker Porch
Power House
Chattering on the Pier
No Swim Beach
Beebe Cemetery Trench
Gosport Chapel
'Landlocked' by Celia Thaxter Excerpt Read by M.V. Thomas Laighton Tour Guide
Side B
Mourning Dove + Northern Cardinal, Spring Chorus - Ethan Allen Homestead, Burlington, VT spring 2020
Chimes, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
Loon Wailing, bullfrogs, green frogs - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
Loon Wailing, peepers, toads - Marlborough, NH summer 2021
Mid-Day Cricket Chorus - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
Hummingbird wings + black bear cubs wrestling - Marlborough, NH summer 2020
Rain, Blue Jays - Marlborough, NH summer 2019
Nighttime cricket chorus, Barred Owl - Marlborough, NH summer 2020