All proceeds from Arches will be directed towards Living Earth - a LA-based membership supported arts organization that is collectively owned and operated by its workers: local musicians, artists, and organizers.

• Arches is a eulogy for collapsing rock formations, an anthropogenic music of erosion and ecocide, released by Leaving Records to help us attune to the more-than-human voices around us.

• Inspired by camping trips throughout Utah, flautist and naturalist Noah Klein found fascination in the spires, buttes, and arches that animate the landscape of Castle Valley. First Peoples describe these formations as portals, sentient beings, and sources of help in both life and ritual. What began as an intrigue grew into a deep curiosity to perceive the voices of these ancient beings. If each geological monument carries the vibrational energy arising through the earth, like a terrestrial tuning fork, then how can we learn to listen?

• Pauline Oliveros shared that, “Quantum Listening is listening in as many ways as possible simultaneously – changing and being changed by the listening.” While Noah’s personal captivation led to reading about geophony and desert ecology, the Geohazards Research Group at the University of Utah was also on an epic quest to record and catalog the red rock tones throughout Castle Valley. In recent years these ancient architectures have increasingly been reduced to rubble, some of which is due to elevated resonant frequencies emitting from our cities, trains, traffic, and aviation noise. As human activity grows, these formations rattle more intensely (as heard on the latter half of Arches as a helicopter passes), eventually altering their frequencies enough to escalate the potential for collapse. For these researchers, their seismic recordings are not only crucial to advocate for preservation, but to account for the risks of proposed future developments.

• It is with gratitude to the early work of the Geohazards Research Group that Arches was finally recorded and first presented as a performance-workshop at Arcosanti’s Convergence Festival. Starting with the hums of arches both present and fallen, Noah picked up their drone flute to begin effecting and collaborating with these ambient vibrations as a celebration of life. With friends Adrian Garcia, Lisa Sonoda, and Zachary Paul, they tuned their instruments to the drone of the sandstone, offering closure, transition, and remembrance.

• Noah Klein: Drone Flute & Arrangement

• Adrian Garcia: ARP Odyssey, Korg MS-10 & 20, Roland SH-101, Sequential Six-Trak

• Lisa Sonoda: Voice

• Zachary Paul: Violin

• Recorded with reverence for the great cultural and spiritual significance of these ancient beings & with gratitude for Eastern Shoshone, Hopi, Navajo, Southern Paiute, Ute, and Zune tribes for carrying their stories and care. Featured on this recording are Rainbow Arch, Castleton Tower, and the Double O Arch.

• Artwork and block prints by Natalie Phillips

• Lathe Cuts by Corey Bauer at Cryptic Carousel

• Mixed by Amar Lal at Macro Sound

• Mastered by Matthew McQueen