Greetings Everyone,

I spent much of the summer of 2020 sifting through audio from the Library of Congress -- music performances, field recordings, stories, interviews, dialect samples -- with the aim of piecing together a set of collage-portraits of our country.

It has been fascinating to study these recordings and to discover a dialogue between them. The resulting sounds are dense and troubling and celebratory and have brought me catharsis whenever I've visited them.

Coinciding with the last days under President Trump, and with the continuing darkness in our union, I am beginning to release portions of this project. This is an ongoing work, and the album you see will take shape as I continue to upload new pieces.

This is problematic work, as I've appropriated these sounds from many voices across many groups of Americans of the last century. I believe these recordings are freely given by their creators to the American public, and it is my intention to honor and celebrate them. In this space, I am not a creator but a curator. My work is freely given too.

This past year, the air in America has been filled with tear gas, smoke, lies, the coronavirus... It has also been filled with the voices of people united in the demand that Black Lives Matter.

We are the people who will construct the future of our country and our globe. It is an honor to partake in that work, and it is a help to listen to the voices of the past who have endured the struggles of their own times.

I hope you will engage with these sounds, and I hope they will contain as many fascinating treasures and conversations for you as they have for me.

-Ray Larsen
January 18, 2021