James Johnson | Aperus - Ecotone
An ecotone is a transition area between two adjacent but different plant communities, such as forest and grassland. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and grassland). An ecotone may appear on the ground as a gradual blending of the two communities across a broad area, or it may manifest itself as a sharp boundary line. The word ecotone was coined from a combination of "eco(logy)" plus "tone", from the Greek tonos or tension - a place where ecologies are in tension.
In the studio, James Johnson & Brian McWilliams (aka Aperus) improvised and recorded a deeply textured environmental sound study using field recordings, electronics and organic instruments, expressed thru a wide variety of compositional techniques.
Final sound curation and mastering was an intensive process as Brian structured songs, added overdubs, and reprocessed some tracks entirely. Reflecting back, both artists feel that "Ecotone" represents a major milestone in both their catalogs and consider it to be a strong statement of appreciation and concern for the natural world and its current fragile state.
A limited edition run of 500 pressed CD's (not burned CDRs) with inserts and tray cards printed on 100% recycled post consumer paper and hand assembled by James & Brian. The disc ships with a set of photos chosen from James and Brians' archive of landscape photography.