Aves by Conor Nickerson

Having grown up in rural Massachusetts, I was surrounded by bird songs all throughout my childhood. They would come in through the windows and echo through the trees in the backyard or on walks through the forests and fields of Worcester County.

The idea for bird-inspired music came in 2020, around the same time that I began working on Greenplant, an album of plant-inspired music. The first track I made of Aves is the last track on the album, "Black-Capped Chickadee". With an easily recognizable, melodic birdsong, and as the official state bird of Massachusetts, it seemed like a good place to start.

The idea was set aside until three years later, when I came down with COVID-19 in the spring of 2023. Most of the album was written while I was recovering. Another year went by, and work was finally completed on the album.

Released on World Migratory Bird Day 2024, here is Aves. These seven songs are inspired by seven birds whose calls and songs are near and dear to me. I hope you enjoy.

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Aves (pronounced like "A.V.'s") comes from the Latin "avis", meaning birds. Aves is defined as "a class of vertebrates comprising the birds".

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Dedicated to Gram and Gramp, whose birdbath, suet, hummingbird feeder, and the bread scraps that they would set aside to 'throw out to the birds' always kept their backyard birds well fed and singing.

A recording of their backyard birds is included on this album, and can be heard on my album of soundscapes, Rural Massachusetts 2002.

Conor Nickerson is an American-born songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, filmmaker, and photographer based in Montreal, Quebec.

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