Birdsong at Morning’s second studio outing A Slight Departure is a lush, contemplative work that defies easy categorization. Originally released in 2015, the album finds the Massachusetts-based trio–Alan Williams (lead vocals, guitar, and principal songwriter), Darleen Wilson (guitar, backing vocals), and Greg Porter (bass, backing vocals)–exploring a variety of musical styles including chamber pop, folk, and soft rock. Williams’ evocative vocals and sophisticated songwriting anchor the record, supported by delicate ghost-like harmonies from Wilson and Porter.
A Slight Departure also represents Alan Williams’ inaugural foray into the world of immersive audio. In addition to the standard two-channel stereo version, the CD/Blu-Ray edition also featured a high-resolution 96-khz/24-bit 5.1 surround sound mix. Williams would later go on to create 5.1 renditions of the rest of Birdsong’s catalog–2008's debut EPs (Bound, Lumens, Vigil, and Lumens) and 2018’s Signs and Wonders)–as well as his solo records Evidence Unearthed (2020) and Currents (2022).
Now, to celebrate A Slight Departure’s forthcoming tenth anniversary, Williams has revisited the original multitrack recordings to craft a brand-new Dolby Atmos mix of the album. This is the second Birdsong at Morning release to receive an Atmos mix, after the Annals of My Glass House collection. We at IAA are thrilled to offer the album as an exclusive hi-res immersive download through our online shop!
The ‘standard’ 10th anniversary digital edition contains the original 11-track album in Dolby TrueHD/Atmos, while the ‘deluxe’ options adds instrumental versions of all tracks also in immersive audio.
The Dolby Atmos mix builds upon the strong foundation of the 2015 5.1 surround mix, further unpacking the dense layers of harmony vocals, strings, guitar, and keyboard out into the side surround and height speakers. Williams’ acoustic guitars extend from the front stage out into the side surround speakers, while backing vocals from Wilson and Porter usually appear from directly behind the listener. The height array adds further immersive, supplying 'you-are-there' ambiences as well as effects like the rainfall in "Kipahulu Sunrise."
To further celebrate the re-release of A Slight Departure, here are some behind-the-scenes comments from Williams on the making of each track.
The Great Escape:
“Weird technical/musical considerations are often the seed for new song ideas, and this one came very quickly once the tuning/strum approach was worked out. The chorus melody prompted both a chord and metrical shift, and the words came quickly from the open phonetic sounds that emerged. Once the “soon be free” phrase came, I suddenly had a Romeo and Juliet scenario to work with–star crossed lovers making a break from unnamed constrictions upon their relationship. Though it ended up as a full-voice belt with drums and guitars to match, the first run-throughs were barely whispers. Along with a handful of other songs, this one came forth in a burst necessitated by a looming recording session deadline. Sometimes constrictions are a good thing…"
Never To Part:
“This song came to me while driving. I was doing a little vocalizing in the car, and found that so much of our earlier material had come from exploring my upper range falsetto. I thought perhaps I should see if I had anything at the bass/baritone end of the spectrum. Having discovered that I did, I found that I got a little bored being down there for too long, so I found a melody that worked in multiple octaves. Once I got home, I jumped from the car and ran to my guitar to find the key I was singing in. Coincidentally, I had left it in the recently altered/altered tuning from “Numbered Days.” Making a quick capo adjustment, I found the harmonies that the melody implied, and quickly the song fell into place.”
Murderous Friend:
“One of my favorites–probably because it came in one sitting (with interruption). Once again, I was sitting in our rehearsal space, noodling on guitar, when I put my fingers on the wrong strings, and heard a sound I hadn’t intended, but which cast a spell I couldn’t come out from. I played the chords of the verse back and forth for what felt like hours, just caught up in their meditative quality. As a composer, I knew I would need to break it up with some sort of shift, and went to the chorus chord instinctively, plying a dulcimer-like figure (just as I had done with an older song, “Softly, Like An Amen”). Immediately, a phrase sprung to my lips–“I like my murderous friend.” Don’t know where that came from, and didn’t know what to do with it either.”
Devil's Stomping Ground:
“After the first Birdsong records made strings such an important aspect of our sound, I was emboldened to try something more audacious, and remembered this song from the past. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember all the original lyrics and had to re-write pieces of some of the verses (though my sense is that the new version is a little stronger than the old one). In place of guitar pyrotechnics, I opted for a full-blown string orchestra solo, starting from “Kashmir” and “Within You, Without You,” and continuing through some of the Indian and Middle Eastern popular music I had come to know and love during my ethnomusicologist days. There’s actually not all that much for the rest of the band to do, and I had to keep reminding Ben and Greg that it was ok to play the same chord over and over again for minutes at a time – “really, you guys, I’ve got this idea for strings that will be really cool. Trust me.” All the time, praying that something “really cool” would come, when in fact I had no idea what I was going to do.”
Midnight Vespers:
“At some point, someone pointed out that Greg and Darleen had done more vocal harmony work on the earlier records than the later ones, so I thought perhaps I should come up with something that would be more of a vocal showcase. Concurrently, I had written a set of guitar figures that were really beautiful, but with a melody that was a little hard for me to pull off consistently. Aha! – let Greg and Darleen rescue me! Which they did, but only at the eleventh hour as we had never really performed it, or sung it through. Instead, we got together and tracked vocals section by section as we worked out parts verses, choruses, with little variations. By that time we were finished, we were so tired that we went home without hearing it all put together. A few days later, I called Greg to thank him and to let him know that something special was happening on the track – come put some bass on it! Which he did – masterfully. I love that you can hear his creative approach and sure, nuanced touch come through on every note. No one plays quite like him.”
Dimestore Dreamers:
“A tortured path to this final version. The very first time I attempted what became my standard guitar tuning (from low to high: E/B/E/F#/B/E), I came up with this song–a good ten years before Birdsong began. It has since gone through two completely different melodies and several sets of lyrics. No one seemed to like it much (including me), but I couldn’t let it go–the chorus seemed too catchy. So with a few minutes to spend before Greg arrived at the second day of recording with Ben, I asked if we could try a few run-throughs at various tempos, with the idea that maybe I would come up with stronger words and melodies at some point in the future. Or, if it didn’t feel good, I would finally just let it go. Of course, Ben made it feel like a great track, so I had to try and meet the challenge. Not sure I did, but after several attempts, and much convincing, even Greg and Darleen have indicated that they don’t hate it as much as they used to. I’ll take that as a yes.”
Mountainside:
“This is another song that came quickly–the music in one brief sitting, and the lyric in another. The words are based on a true story involving my grandmother. Growing up, I was often at her house where her stern manner and skillful use with a flyswatter kept my sister and I in check. A former schoolteacher, I could only imagine that she ruled her classroom with an iron fist and a solid oak paddle. But during my first summer home from college (a music conservatory), after spending all day clearing poison ivy and scrub brush from a patch of woodland (God only knows why), she presented me with a surprise gift – a beautiful violin, or more appropriately, fiddle. Smooth and rounded, it featured a gorgeously detailed inlay design on the back, and a rattlesnake rattle inside – “for good luck,” she said. I had no idea that she had a musical inclination whatsoever (other than a terrifying habit of abandoning the steering wheel to clap along with music on the car radio). My mother provided the backstory. Turns out, my grandmother played fiddle as a girl growing up in the mountains of western North Carolina. Being a bookish child, she was also the first person from her area to go to college, and a local woodworker made her a violin so that she could play in the orchestra at the University of Tennessee. For reasons never made clear, the instrument went silent, packed away in a closet for decades, until presented to me one hot July day.”
Pages:
“An unabashed love song, and why not? This one came from the habit Darleen and I have adopted of going to Hawaii, living off the grid in the rainforest, with a couple of guitars in hand to pass the time. The sound of rain on the canvas roof led my fingers to this picking pattern. Some time later, I realized the song and the rain were forever entwined in my mind, and thus the lyric emerged. We’ve explored several pockets of paradise on those islands, and on our most recent trek to the wondrous Big Island community of Kalani, we would jump up with a little mini-recorder to capture the sound of an early morning rainfall. That’s the sound that opens and closes the recording–a never ending cycle of rain and sun, going on forever, just like true love.”
Not For Sale:
“We used to rehearse in a large space in a converted mill building. Loved the high ceilings, the brick, the light from the huge windows. But the bathrooms were on the other end of the building, a five-minute walk each way. One night, Darleen and I were practicing, and she excused herself to take the hike. That gave me just enough time to stumble upon the guitar figure at the heart of this song. By the time she returned, I pretty much had the whole thing worked out. The lyric comes from a period where it seemed everyone we knew was getting married (Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, and that spring, many of our friends decided to take the plunge–a windfall for the catering business). I was also inspired by a scene in Six Feet Under where Brenda is shopping for throw pillows at some Ikea-esque monstrosity–“walking down the aisle.” And thus a song about love and commerce was born.”
Kipahulu Sunrise:
“Another song that bloomed in Hawaii, while waiting for the rain shower to pass. It’s named for a spectacular area of Maui where the sun rises out of the ocean each morning – on a clear day, you can see the twin volcanic peaks of the Big Island. Charles Lindbergh is buried in a tiny cemetery there, and a number of modern day outlaws (aging rock musicians and movie stars) camp out among the bamboo and monkey pod trees. The recording was meant to be guitar and string quartet, but when we recorded the string players, it became clear that the arrangement wasn’t really working. After letting go of the quartet, I was suddenly struck with inspiration. Working in the kind of lo-fi, what-the-hell mode that I employed as a teenager experimenting with tape recorders, I improvised some percussion parts– shuffling paper, tapping on a stool, banging a couch pillow. Originally meant as guides for later re-recording with proper instruments, they had a certain charm, and after adding some more traditional pitched percussion, a little handmade tapestry emerged.”
Down In The Hole:
“A song about depression. Fortunately, I have never suffered from clinical depression (unlike many people I am close to), but have skirted that abyss on more than one occasion. So much sadness in the world. Sometimes, it’s the sadness that binds us together. My friend. And the recording contains my favorite moment on the record – Thomas Juliano’s guitar solo. I have burned into my mind the moment in our little workspace session when he tracked his part – the whole song in one long take. Quietly reaching for the slide during the vocal pause, coaxing the saddest, most gorgeous moan for the first part, then quickly casting off the slide and digging in for the second half. So many shifts in mood and tone, but all done as one united expression. The impact on me is permanent; the miracle is that it was recorded for all to share in that moment. It can be difficult to communicate the joys of making music collectively, but I believe every listener can connect with that feeling during moments like this one.”
Lead Me On:
“A garden emerges from hundreds of seeds. One of the seeds for Birdsong At Morning came from the original recording of this song by Bobby “Blue” Bland. I loved the contrast between the rawness of his voice, and the lush ethereal quality of the orchestra. Bought this album when I was 18, and remember being struck by the harmonies of the string arrangement – tonalities that pushed the envelope of what “blues” had always meant for me. An unexpected juxtaposition, and something that has unconsciously governed my approach to string writing for our music. I don’t have the capacity for raw expression found in Bland’s incredible singing, so I approach it more introspectively. I also wanted a way of indicating that “departure” isn’t always a solitary experience. And I just realized that the last words on this album are the same as the last words on Annals…”
For those unfamiliar with Birdsong at Morning, A Slight Departure serves as an excellent entry point. Its blend of lush orchestration, introspective lyrics, and masterful musicianship yields a listening experience that is both immersive and emotionally satisfying. Though the band may not be a household name, their work is sure to resonate with listeners who appreciate music that prioritizes depth and emotional resonance over commercial trends. Stay tuned for a similar immersive reworking of 2018’s Signs and Wonders later this month!
Purchase A Slight Departure (10th Anniversary Edition) in the IAA Shop!
