CD – 11 tracks
Release date: 2nd February 2024
You can pre-order the album here
Track Listing:
1. Forest of Tragedy
2. The Night the Stars Fell
3. Relief
4. Chorus of a Derailed Railcar
5. Blinding Light
6. Hill of Swords
7. Decaying House
8. Slow Rage
9. Requiem of the Wind
10. Demise of a Dream
11. The Road Home
Written and performed by Ian Wellman
“The Night the Stars Fell” is a journey that begins in a fire-scarred forest. The trees croak as each new gust of wind passes. Along the way, the remnants of a discovered past emerge; the crashes and bangs of the decaying home and the chorus of a derailed railcar; shortwave radios blaring messages baked in static. Crickets sing their final songs as the world continues to boil. I look for signs of hope, only to find darkness.
The fourth album by Ian Wellman, and his Ash International debut, “The Night the Stars Fell” is built from field recordings from the forests and deserts of Southern California, shortwave radio static, and cassette tape loops layered in distortion. The eleven tracks across the album are carried by the physicality of wind which drove the fires that burned the forests where the sounds were recorded. “The Night the Stars Fell” explores a time of rebuilding, of searching for a new path.
Ian Wellman is a sound artist currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. His recordings have been published by Room40, Dragon’s Eye Recordings, Luminous Drift, and Industrial Coast. Ian is an IATSE Y-1 journeyman, and a member of the LA-based sound collective VOLUME.
Recorded, composed, and mixed in Los Angeles between 2021-2023.
Field recordings recorded in the forests and deserts of Southern California.
Equipment used:
Hardware:
Tascam 424 mkiii, Repurposed cassette tapes found off Craigslist, Presonus quantum, Apple laptop, Sound Devices MixPre 6II, Sound Devices 702T, Sennheiser 8040 in ORTF formation, Rycote wind protection, 5-pin XLR and 1/4th cables
Software:
Ableton Live, Native Instruments Absynth, Izotope RX 9, Trash2, WebSDR
Mastered by Lawrence English at Negative Space
Forest photos by Ian Wellman. Inside photo by Benny Nilsen
Layout by Philip Marshall