A creative vehicle of Big Neck Police‘s Paco Cathcart, The Cradle‘s sixteenth release in two years is Temperate Lands, due soon via Ramp Local. Similar though decidedly more meditative than earlier releases, Cathcart’s latest elevates field-recordings to the level of instrumentation, setting found sounds in the service of narrative arcs, and bass and accordion motifs in the service of texture and ambiance. One guest performer is Ani Ivry-Block, of Palberta, who collaborated with Cathcart on a video to “Overnight Bus Ride”. Composed of cellphone footage–square format from Ivry-Block’s Razor, rectangle format from Cathcart’s iPhone–taken by the artists during cross-country travels and then edited by Ivry-Block, the video conveys the quietly ruminative point-of-view of an intrepid, observant wanderer. Few people are depicted in the video, but it feels populated and suffused with voices by the song, which meshes together mutterings and rustic instrumentation.
