Annie A - The Wind That Had Not Touched Land

High-minded collaboration between composer Félicia Atkinson, sound-poem archivists Time is Away, poet Christina Petrie and outsider folk genius Maxine Funke that does a good job in showing off the individual qualities of its respective contributors. With a project as artfully conceived as this is, it's churlish to consider any of it predictable, though followers of the Time Is Away NTS show will undoubtedly identify many connecting threads and aesthetics tropes. Pastoral, reflective, unhurried but enquiring. The titular Annie A refers to the early 20th century textile-maker Anni Albers, a directive choice that not only reflects the vividly weaved pictorial patterns associated with her work but the very processes that shape them. With this many voices involved, layering is always going to be a key part of the presentation, and across these eight pieces we move between wordless ambient drift, drone-backed spoken word and, at its conclusion, a beautiful Maxine Funke-led composition so intimate and seemingly incidental in construction it feels as naturally existent as that named wind that had not touched the land. To that point, the final track is a striking counterpoint to the preceding 35 minutes of highly-curated sound design and edited text. This obviously speaks to Funke's uniquely naturalistic means of communication, though of course its position at the end is not coincidental, as if to say that after all this reflection and poetic enquiry, the ultimate value is in simply giving over to the feeling, be that sensory or emotional. As such, The Wind That Had Not Touched Land is a record of subtle contrasts in celebration of the communal.