Wren Kitz, 'Natural History vol. 2'

(Another Earth, cassette, digital)

The ocean waves lap against craggy rock, their percussive whoosh and crashing almost — almost — keeping time. Wind plays against the water’s rush, the sound not unlike the brush of a drumstick against the bronze bell of a hi-hat. You’re alone, the sounds of thousands of years of peaceful isolation welcoming you to Star Island.

This sonic travelogue is brought to you by Burlington experimental songwriter, producer, bread maker and field-recording enthusiast Wren Kitz. Natural History vol. 2 is the latest release in a series in which the artist uses field recordings to capture the tonal character of physical places and establish an aural palette. On the first volume, released in 2022, Kitz abandoned traditional songwriting altogether to direct his reel-to-reel tape recorder at the sounds of everything from a murder of crows in the trees near Red Rocks Park in South Burlington to a chorus of crickets in Marlborough, N.H.

Vol. 2 narrows the focus to Star Island, a 38-acre part of the Isles of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Settled in the early 17th century, the island has long been a destination for those seeking a little solitude.

Kitz maps the island’s acoustic landscape in two movements, each just under 25 minutes long. “DAYTIME” is a field-recording symphony of movements, starting with “On the Rocks, Facing East,” which pairs the sounds of the Atlantic Ocean meeting the island’s granite coast with howling wind and birdsong. Kitz’s skill as a sonic documentarian is on full display as he presents Star Island like the main setting of a novel, sketching out its remote boundaries before introducing its inhabitants.

As he moves inland and the sound of the waves recedes, a ghostly banjo appears briefly, the specter of a songwriter idly plucking his instrument against the backdrop of wind and water. Voices carry on in the next movement, “Chattering on the Pier.”

Kitz’s recording just brushes against the island’s human inhabitants, treating them like background characters. A crew of sailors sings a traditional sea shanty that Star Island residents have used for centuries to send off departing vessels and greet arriving ones — “Oceanic, Oceanic, rah-rah-rah … you did come back, you did come back!” We hear a tour guide reading an excerpt from the poem “Landlocked” by Celia Thaxter.

“NIGHTTIME” depicts a changed island once the sun goes down. The hypnotic rhythm of chirping crickets and cicadas beats against the distant sounds of waves and cars. The lonely cadence of Kitz’s footsteps on dirt and gravel as he approaches a truck trestle is the only other human sound. As he moves from a dump to a barn and eventually to the end of a pier, raindrops and church bells creep in, completing Kitz’s lush portrait of Star Island.

The most effective ambient musicians take all the tonal characters they’ve captured and harness them into something more conceptual. Kitz is a master at the practice, and Natural History vol. 2 is a perfect showcase. Listen in at wrenkitz.bandcamp.com.