Shore Fire Media


For The Birds: The Birdsong Project Volume IV Out Today

For The Birds: The Birdsong Project Volume IV Out Today

Latest Release from 5-Volume Collection of 242 Newly Recorded and Original Recordings from Leading Artists Inspired By Birdsong 

Volume IV Artists Include Sam Amidon, Andrew Bird, Mark Mothersbaugh, Arturo O’Farrill, Midori Hirano, Julian Lage & Bill Frisell, Robert Ames, Juliette Commagere, Haley Fohr feat. Rob Frye, Julia Holter, and More, with Spoken Word Performances From Suzan-Lori Parks, Toni Collette, John Lithgow, George Saunders, Jarvis Cocker, Olivia Wilde, and Others.

Listen Here: https://orcd.co/forthebirdsvol4

Watch the video for Andrew Bird’s “Rare Birds”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ_wSKpOvLU

Watch the video for Mary Lattimore’s “Your Birthday at The Huntington”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa3AcF2q_Ss 

Carlos Niño & Nate Mercereau feat. Kamasi Washington - “Wild Birds in an Imagined Canoga Park With Lakes and Trees in Place of Streets and Buildings” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzNiVYan_U 

Written by Ada Limón. Read by Olivia Wilde - “Lies About Sea Creatures” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtuZ8NZDGl0 

Produced by Grammy Award-Winning Producer/Music Supervisor Randall Poster

Executive Producers Are Elliot Bergman, Stewart Lerman, Lee Ranaldo, and Rebecca Reagan

100% of Proceeds Benefit National Audubon Society, Drawing Attention to Threats Facing Bird Populations

August 26, 2022---For the Birds: The Birdsong Project today releases Volume IV of its wide-ranging collection of 242 recordings inspired by birdsong and supporting the conservation of birds and their habitats. Now available for streaming on all platforms, Volume IV features 48 recordings---songs, instrumental pieces and experimental works---across the stylistic spectrum along with compelling literary interludes. The volume’s musical artists include Sam Amidon, Andrew Bird, Mark Mothersbaugh, Arturo O’Farrill, Midori Hirano, Julian Lage & Bill Frisell, Robert Ames, Juliette Commagere, Haley Fohr feat. Rob Frye, Julia Holter, Angélica Negrón, Doug Wieselman, Steve Gunn, and many more. Spoken word recordings interspersed among the musical contributions feature performances by Suzan-Lori Parks, Toni Collette, John Lithgow, George Saunders, Jarvis Cocker, Sam Mendes, Olivia Wilde, Cazzie David, and others, reading works by authors including E.E. Cummings, Philip Larkin, and Jane Hirshfield.

Watch singer-songwriter Andrew Bird’s Volume IV track “Rare Birds” music video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ_wSKpOvLU

And watch/share the video for harpist and experimental composer Mary Lattimore’s “Your Birthday at The Huntington,” created by Birdsong executive producer Rebecca Reagan, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa3AcF2q_Ss  

Additional tracks with visualizers include: Carlos Niño & Nate Mercereau feat. Kamasi Washington - “Wild Birds in an Imagined Canoga Park With Lakes and Trees in Place of Streets and Buildings” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHzNiVYan_U 

Written by Ada Limón. Read by Olivia Wilde - “Lies About Sea Creatures” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtuZ8NZDGl0 

“It was an honor and delight to participate in this beautiful project. This is truly a singular collection of music and poetry that has never before been collected on this scale. Reading the poetry of Ada Limon into a microphone at Electric Lady Studios was a dream. It’s a thrill to be a part of the Birdsong creative collective” - Olivia Wilde

“Randall asked me to contribute to his endangered bird project last year and I decided to use the recording of the last. Kaua‘i ‘Ō‘ō Song (before it went extinct) as the basis for the melody. I know it sounds crazy obvious but since I started whistling at age 5 I have often attempted to imitate bird calls and see if I can get them to respond to me. At best they’ve probably just been humoring me all these years. Anyway I think what Randall has put together is incredible and obviously a labor of love. He is proving to be the rightful heir to the Hal Willner school of music curatorial brilliance” - Andrew Bird

“Music and poetry often help to express our relationship with nature and in that way, we learn more about ourselves. And, we are already seeing how these brilliant volumes from The Birdsong Project are inspiring people to better understand the conservation movement. Birds tell us we must act decisively to protect the places that they - and we all - need. By doing so, we are safeguarding our natural resources, and our way of life. The songs and poems in these volumes carry their message. Everyone has a role to play and sometimes that begins simply by building on an appreciation for the birds that sing to us from our own neighborhoods. We are incredibly grateful for this partnership with Randall, all the artists involved, and I can’t imagine another project like this existing on this scale,” said Sean O'Connor, the chief development officer for Audubon.” - Sean O'Connor, Chief Development Officer, National Audubon Society 

“From the spirited dance of a Greater Prairie-Chicken to the intense gaze of a Snowy Owl, there’s nothing more captivating than watching birds being birds—especially when set to the soundtrack of Andrew Bird’s melodious whistle, itself a nod to the song of the last Kaua‘i ‘Ō‘ō,” said Jenny Bogo, vice president of content for the National Audubon Society. “This music video features footage from Audubon sanctuaries and other sites essential to supporting birds throughout their migrations, and it also includes many clips of bird behavior filmed by the talented photographers who share their joy of birds through the Audubon Photography Awards. Each moment is a reminder of the amazing diversity of avian life and the imperative of acting to protect it.”

The Birdsong Project was produced by Randall Poster, the Grammy Award-winning producer and music supervisor known for his longtime work with Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese. It was conceived and inspired by Executive Producer Rebecca Reagan, who brought a grand creative vision and wisdom to the project. Additional executive producers are Elliot Bergman, Stewart Lerman and Lee Ranaldo

Since the May release of Volume I, The Birdsong Project has been featured in the New York TimesThe GuardianNew YorkerCBCRolling StonePitchforkStereogumApartment TherapyCool HuntingWNYCUproxxBrooklyn Vegan and more.

The final volume of The Birdsong Project (Volume V) will be released in September. The full collection is also available as a limited edition 20-LP deluxe box set, which features a 60-page book including an essay by musician-ornithologist Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater and a package bursting with paintings and illustrations of birds by well-known artists.

The project’s expansive collection of 242 recordings represents a remarkable assemblage of diverse talent from across the creative community in support of an important cause, including GRAMMY, Oscar, Emmy, Pulitzer, Peabody and James Beard Award winners: Ad-Rock, Laurie Anderson, Animal Collective, Beck, Cassandra Jenkins, Dan Deacon, Daniel Lanois, Elvis Costello, Esperanza Spalding, Flaming Lips, Haden Triplets, Jeff Tweedy, Jim James, Julianna Barwick, Kamasi Washington, Karen O, Kurt Vile, Atlas Sound & L’Rain, Makaya McCraven, Hania Rani, Mark Ronson, Nick Cave, Stephin Merritt, Terry Riley, Tyondai Braxton, UNKLE, Yo-Yo Ma, and many more. The majority of the recordings were made specifically for this project.

Spoken-word contributions recorded and donated to the project feature an array of writers and actors including Jonathan Franzen, Maggie Smith, Ocean Vuong, Alice Waters, Bette Midler, Florence Welch, Greta Gerwig, Jeff Goldblum, Jelani Cobb, Matthew McConaughey, Natasha Lyonne, Regina King, Robert Pattinson, Sean Penn, Tilda Swinton, Tim Blake Nelson, Bobby Cannavale, and more.

All proceeds from The Birdsong Project will be donated to the National Audubon Society, the world’s oldest environmental society dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats. 

In a project partnershipthe Brooklyn Botanic Garden has mounted a multidisciplinary exhibition and program series in collaboration with exhibition creative director and Birdsong Project producer Randall Poster—running now through October 23. It includes an outdoor exhibition of birdhouses created by international artists and inspired by Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s resident birds as well as The Birdsong Project's recordings. 

To help foster an awareness of—and love for—birds in future generations, The Birdsong Project has also partnered with eyewear brand Warby Parker to donate 20,000 limited-edition "Birdoculars" to numerous cultural institutions that support the conservation of the natural world and its avian inhabitants. 

Additional gala and educational events will take place with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (in conjunction with the re-opening of the Hall of Oceanic Birds in 2023).

VOLUME # 4 TRACK LIST:

ALBUM #13

SIDE A

1. Not-Yet - Written by Jane Hirshfield. Read by Victoria Legrand 

2. Monteverde September 08 - Performed by The Album Leaf 

3. Birdsong Call - Performed by Nick Zinner 

4. Rare Birds - Performed by Andrew Bird

5. Bobcats, Beetles, Owls Written by Jane Hirshfield. Read by Jane Alexander 

 

SIDE B

1. Diary - Performed by Juliette Commagere 

2. Cuckoo - Performed by Sam Amidon 

3. Sorrow Is Not My Name - Written by Ross Gay. Read by Suzan-Lori Parks

4. County Route 41 - Performed by Cassandra Jenkins

5. Birdsong - Performed by Steve Gunn

 

ALBUM #14

SIDE A

1. Bye Bye Birdy - Performed by Mark Mothersbaugh 

2. The Sparrows of Butyrka - Written by Irena Ratushinskaya. Read by George Saunders 

3. Alula - Performed by GEORGIA 

4. Mourning Dove in Buoyancy - Performed by Haley Fohr feat. Rob Frye 

5. The Ayaymama Bird - Performed by Elvis Perkins 

6. Boy With a Headset - Written and read by Edward Hirsch

 

SIDE B

1. Wild Birds in an Imagined Canoga Park With Lakes and Trees in Place of Streets and Buildings - Performed by Carlos Niño & Nate Mercereau feat. Kamasi Washington

2. Intone - Performed by Midori Hirano

3. In Wiry Winter - Written by James Schuyler. Read by Graydon Carter

4. Avi Sinistra - Performed by ROB

5. Central Park - Performed by Doug Wieselman

6. Birdy - Performed by Daniel Blumberg & Billy Steiger

7. BIRDSLAND - Performed by Arturo O'Farrill 

8. To This May - Written by W.S. Merwin. Read by Cazzie David

 

ALBUM #15

SIDE A

1. Aure, Deh, Per Piertà - Performed by Anthony Roth Costanzo

2. Hope Is a Thing with Feathers - Performed by Angela McCluskey & The Cantelon Ensemble 

3. Coming - Written by Philip Larkin. Read by Sam Mendes 

4. Many Worlds - Performed by Robert Ames

5. I Put on My Fur Coat - Written by Jane Wong. Read by Sofia Subercaseaux

6. Planeaciones - Performed by Angélica Negrón

 

SIDE B

1. Wingspan - Performed by Briana Marela 

2. Poems - Written by Ruth Stone. Read by Edwina von Gal 

3. Jacob Riis - Stuart Bogie and Domenica Fossati. Performed by Domenica Fossati 

4. Used Beak - Performed by Craig Wedren 

5. ‘sweet spring is your - Written by E. E. Cummings. Read by John Lithgow

6. Pettirosso - Daniele Luppi. Performed by Giacomo Bianchi

 

ALBUM #16

SIDE A

1. Voice & Birds - Performed by Anton Pearson (Squid)

2. Lies About Sea Creatures - Written by Ada Limón. Read by Olivia Wilde

3. The Owl of Cranston - Performed by Julian Lage & Bill Frisell 

4. Tanager Time - Performed by Mac McCaughan 

5. Montezuma Oropendola - Performed by Chris Watson

6. In the World - Written by Brigid Lowry. Read by Toni Collette

 

SIDE B

1. Tweetstorm - Performed by Chilly Gonzales

2. Abide - Written by Jake Adam York. Read by Jarvis Cocker

3. Keep Me Warm (Crèche) - Performed by Julia Holter 

4. Migration - Performed by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith 

5. Kría - Performed by Jana Winderen 

6. The Wild Geese - Written by Wendell Berry. Read by Michael Pollan

 

 About Randall Poster

Randall Poster is one of the most highly sought-after music supervisors in the film and television industries. Over the last three decades, he has bolstered the work of some of the world’s most innovative film directors.

In 1996, Poster produced the soundtrack for Larry Clark’s groundbreaking film KIDS, a foray into music supervision that led to high-profile collaborations in independent and commercial cinema. His selective, distinctive ear has been essential to the musical identities of critically acclaimed films including SCHOOL OF ROCK (Richard Linklater), COUNTRY STRONG (Shana Feste), MEET THE PARENTS (Jay Roach), THE HANGOVER PARTS I, II and III (Todd Phillips), and VELVET GOLDMINE (Todd Haynes). Poster has also lent his skills and musical insights to the works of directors Sam Mendes, Olivia Wilde, Danny Boyle, Karyn Kusama, Antonio Campos, Kevin Smith, Harmony Korine, and Sean Penn.

Poster has been an essential participant in shaping the unique aesthetic of all of Wes Anderson’s films; supervising the scores and soundtracks from 1998’s RUSHMORE to 2014’s GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, to the upcoming ASTEROID CITY. Poster has also developed musical identities for many of Martin Scorsese’s biggest recent projects, including films HUGO, THE AVIATOR, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, and the hit HBO series BOARDWALK EMPIRE and VINYL. In 2011, Poster’s work on the BOARDWALK EMPIRE soundtrack earned him a GRAMMY Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack. Poster won a second GRAMMY for his role in producing the soundtrack to THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL.

Poster is currently at work on Mr. Scorsese’s KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON.

Recent projects of note include THE FRENCH DISPATCH, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, TIGER KING, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME, PRETEND IT'S A CITY, and Questlove’s Academy Award-winning, feature documentary debut, SUMMER OF SOUL (...OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED). Poster’s work will soon be heard in Olivia Wilde’s DON’T WORRY DARLING, Scott Cooper’s PALE BLUE EYE, and new films by Sam Mendes, Davis Guggenheim, and Maya Forbes & Wally Wolodarsky. 

 

About The Executive Producers

ELLIOT BERGMAN

Elliot Bergman is a musician and artist living in Chicago and Los Angeles. After studying Jazz, Composition, and Gamelan music at the University of Michigan, he has been an active part of the creative music scenes in Brooklyn and Chicago while touring extensively with his groups Wild Belle and NOMO. He has also performed and recorded with Beck, Iron and Wine, Yeasayer, Cage the Elephant, and His Name is Alive. His musical and visual art practices are uniquely intertwined. His early training in metal work led to experimentation with material and sound and the production of bronze bells and sound sculptures. He has exhibited his work at The Marciano Art Foundation In Los Angeles, The Depaul Art Museum in Chicago, and at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.

 

STEWART LERMAN

Stewart Lerman is a Bronx born NY based 2x Grammy winning(3x nominated) music producer and recording/mix engineer who has produced over 100 albums and worked on countless movie and TV soundtracks.

He has worked with such artists as Patti Smith, Loudon Wainwright, Elvis Costello, The Roches, Shawn Colvin, Sharon Van Etten, etc. In the film and TV world he has worked with directors Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen, Barry Levinson, Wes Anderson, Amy Sherman-Palladino, to name a few.    

 

LEE RANALDO

Musician, visual artist, and writer, Lee Ranaldo co-founded Sonic Youth in 1981, and has been active both in New York and Internationally for 40 years as composer, performer and producer; also exhibiting visual art worldwide and publishing several books of journals, poetry and writings on music. Recent live performances with partner Leah Singer, Contre Jour, have been large scale, multi-projection sound and light events with suspended electric guitar phenomena that challenge the usual performer/audience relationship. 

Most recent album In Virus Times, an instrumental acoustic piece in four parts, was released in November 2021 on Mute Records, A new collaborative quartet album with Jim Jarmusch, Churning of the Ocean, was released by Trost Records in May 2021. Sonic Youth released new compilation IN/OUT/IN in March 2022 on Three Lobed Records. Previous album Names of North End Women – a collaboration with Raul Refree - was released in February 2020 on Mute. Lives and works in New York City

 

REBECCA REAGAN

Rebecca Reagan is an LA-based executive producer, advisor at Kiss the Ground, and cofounder of the Ecuador non-profit Amazon Healing. 

She is a multidisciplinary creator, who values the potential of global listening, empathy in communities, and accessible education, to support the ecological well-being of our planet and all beings.  

Rebecca is also a mother, meditator, and tea enthusiast/curator.

 

About The National Audubon Society 

The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon’s vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.

 

About Warby Parker

Founded in 2010, Warby Parker is an eyewear brand with a mission: to inspire and impact the world with vision, purpose, and style.

Warby Parker aims to demonstrate that businesses can scale, do well, and do good in the world. Ultimately, the brand believes in vision for all, which is why for every pair of glasses or sunglasses sold, they distribute a pair to someone in need through their Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program. To date, Warby Parker has worked alongside its nonprofit partners to distribute more than 10 million glasses to people in need. Learn more at warbyparker.com