Thermal Pool by Lee Hannah

Lee Hannah is a Naarm/Melbourne-based librarian, artist and educator. Their practice involves a hybrid of field recordings, new age synthesis and ecological composition to create works inspired by the 1980s Environmental Music and Land Art movements.

Thermal Pool, their latest album, is an exploration of the concept of shinrin-yoku aka. forest bathing - the practice of detoxing from work and urbanisation through unfiltered time in natural environments. Utilising intricate field recordings of rivers and waterways on Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung, and Gunaikurnai countries, the compositions comprised of the Juno, DX-7, and harp delicately evoke a reflective and introspective ambiance.

Tracks like Paradise Gardens and Thermal Pool are timelessly simplistic through the use of expressive melodic motifs, contrasting with the evocative oceanic currents expressed in the field recordings and climbing resonance of Quiet Tide and Steam Room. The release as a whole is characterised by a tranquil and meditative quality, exuding a sense of calmness and serenity, while maintaining an expressive nature through intricate harmonic resplendence.

Thermal Pool will be released digitally and on limited cassette on Friday September 22.

This work was made on land rightfully owned by the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Lee Hannah (Lee Ó hAnnaidh) is a field recordist, librarian, and sound artist based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.