A Collection by James A. McDermid

The latest release on Mailbox feels like rediscovering a collection of polaroids and listening to internal and external landscapes share with us their histories

This is a collection.

A collection of experimental ambient pieces crafted by James A. McDermid and released on various labels across the globe since 2017.

This is a collection…

A collection of moods, memories and moments. Of goodbyes, good times and bad. Of no time. Of stasis and migration. Of repetition. Of waves eroding, of birds flying. Of nature grounding us, of nature pushing us. Of hearts breaking.

This is more than a collection.

This is music for healing. For searching the horizon. For sky and moon and water and mountain. Fifteen vessels ready to touch the soul and mark terrain. Containing melodies and textures forged from out of the ether, ready to transform again. From here to there. Can you hear?

This is a collection calling out

to histories,
to family ties and ley lines.
To journeys,
from stop to stop,
across Europe and landscapes
real, imaginary and in between.
A ghostly topography moulded
in their image.

This collection is an outpouring

of conflicting feelings within reach
and just out of reach.
Where spectres swim
inside fuzzy symphonies
and voices drift
across half-remembered dreams.

This collection is a director’s cut.

An ode to world cinema;
a travelogue:
passing half-open windows
capturing tail ends
of conversations
just out of frame.
Shifting mise-en-scène
meticulously constructed
with an auteur’s eye.

This collection is a bookend

between then and now.
Read them as short stories:
meditations on the human condition
reflected in a rear view mirror.
Does the ink still appear wet to touch?
Or maybe these vignettes
are from dog-eared diaries
and form a scrapbook of tone poems
primed with blank verse
for listeners to fill.

Picture a rediscovered dusty box of polaroids
containing old wounds and tear stains still sparkling.
As they air out beneath spring sun,
shapes and shadows begin to dance
again across walls and floors:
quietly so as not to disturb
those that still sleep.

Let these tracks speak their truths.
These sculptures of dark
and light and light and dark.
Allow these narratives to unfurl
and listen closely for phantoms
have stories to tell.

This collection is an album

of warming earworm drones, harmonic fragments and granular textures. A seamless tapestry pulled together across time and tides. This collection contains both ambient bliss and hauntological haze. It is a cohesive statement: a complete and beautiful body of work to explore.

This is A Collection by James A. McDermid.

Available to stream and purchase from Mailbox: