Seth Andrew Davis - Heartland Flyover

Released: June 5

On Heartland Flyover, performer and composer Seth Andrew Davis presents us with a rather experiemental take on the area of the United States commonly referred to as the “heartland” or “flyover county. Conceptually, this is essentially taking small essences of the sounds of such areas including environmental and the musical/cultural. Field recordings of, well, fields feature prominently in the first of four parts, although it has been processed in such a way that it feels vaguely incorrect. All of the elements are there along with a subtle bit of processing that makes it feels a bit unnatural, though surprisingly it doesn’t come across as unnerving or uncomfortable, just a bit strange. The guitar that accompanies this altered field noise has a nice and slightly twangy tone to it, rather nicely playing into the trip across the south-southwest with its country and blues influences. 

Following the first quarter of the album, things take an even sharper turn into more experimental territory as those semblances of the real world become more and more intensely warped and odd. Part two makes things much more electronically driven featuring a heavy and off-kilter bass lines and severe glitches and distortions of (presumably) more filed recordings that I suspect aren’t necessarily fields. The dynamics between the sounds is interesting and there’s some semblance of real world sounds but they are less than identifiable. Part three brings things back a bit as we get a more ambient although still quite glitchy and odd melange of processed sounds. But both of these two lean heavier into surrealism than the first part. 

The final part of the album is the shortest and somewhat returns to the more grounded nature of the first while still staying in the surrealist vein of the previous two. It somehow feels quieter but also more percussive than the others as well, which makes it the only track here that feels unsettling rather than just odd. It’s a nice and succinct end that kind of melds previous elements together in a fairly cohesive way, but creates a certain sense of disjointedness that doesn’t feel present on many other parts of this little sonic journey.