the third participant in our monthly feature is the american composer philip g anderson.

besides releasing extraordinary beautiful music – with a strong focus on cinematic soundscapes and strings – philip also took his compositions to both tv and film, working with a wide variety of networks such as cnn, fox and cbs. he also composed the ost’s for several short films (le passage du temps, fleur, wanderful etc).

his first full-length album is named wilderness and was released on march 1st.
in philip‘s own words, he is describing the birth of the album as follows;

“this project started as a desire to escape the small, claustrophobic, and dark room where i spent much of my time writing and working. i wanted to create music that got me out of that room and also inspired other people to go out and explore the beautiful, natural world around us. i was inspired early on by imagery of the vast wilderness in the pacific northwest. i wondered what the dense forests, flowing rivers, and expansive mountain ranges would sound like musically. and so, i composed 10 pieces that blend together ambient, modern classical, and cinematic elements to reflect what I felt that would sound like, a soundtrack for exploring the wilderness.”

listening to the album after reading his own thoughts about the album, it’s safe to say that philip g anderson conveyed exactly the message he set out to do. wilderness is embraced by weightlessness, beauty, meaning, admiration – all the things we experience when we explore nature in its purest form are present on this release.
the timid piano – lined by heavily reverberated cellos and violins by dave edwards and erin cassel – adds an extra dimension, even allowing the listener to be taken beyond nature.

tracklist:

01 wilderness
02 along the forest floor
03 olympic
04 lakes
05 from river to ocean
06 moss
07 fog
08 overcast
09 evergreen
10 mountains

 

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together with photographer grant boutiette, philip also shared a few of the photos taken in connection with the album artwork.

“this photo was taken in skokomish washington. we were driving through a swamp area and saw the fog slowly fading away to reveal the tree covered hilltops. what stood out to me most about this location and moment was how quiet it was. there was no wind, no car sounds, no animal sounds, just silence. it was incredibly calm.”

“this photo was taken overlooking lake cushman near the entrance to olympic national park. we were driving through the mountains and came across this overlook with stunning views of the clouds rolling over the mountains. it’s hard to get a true sense of just how big the lake is and how far you could see from the photo. we spent a long time in that spot just observing and taking in the view.”

wilderness can be purchased from philip g anderson’s bandcamp.