Hey folks, welcome to the latest episode of the Ecosystem Member podcast.

This is our first episode of a new set of recordings after a little break. I recorded a bunch of episodes at the end of 2024 to get us to March. I used that break to write a fiction book exploring a lot of themes from this podcast and I’m really proud of the result. I put my whole heart into the story so I am hoping we’ll be able to get published soon. If you know a literary agent or publishing house exec, send them my way.

Today’s episode though, is also something I’m really proud of. I try to be really thoughtful about the people who I invite to be guests on the podcast and often times I send agents or publicists an email and I hear nothing back, so I was ecstatic what I actually heard back from the representatives of today’s guest.

Dave Longstreth is a songwriter, composer and band leader you probably know best from his most widely known work with the band he created - Dirty Projectors. I came across an article in The New Yorker about Dave’s latest project ‘Song of the Earth’ and I knew I had to have him on the podcast. As we talk about in the episode, the piece is ultimately an affirmation and optimistic, but it explores some challenging elements of our relationship with nature, including using a passage from David Wallace-Wells book ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’ in a song to illuminate some shocking truth about how we treat Planet Earth.

In addition to exploring the tensions and ideas in ‘Song of the Earth’, we talk about one of his most well-known collaborations with the Icelandic singer Björk on the album Mount Wittenberg Orca. As Dave talks about in the episode, this music was written with the idea of the singers as a pod of whales with Björk being the mother whale. I remember hearing it when it came out in 2011, but the meaning and impact expanded in the context of the themes of the podcast when I re-listened to it to prepare for this episode.

Toward the end, we also discuss the new film Dave scored called The Legend of Ochi. As of this recording it hasn't hit my local theater, but it is backed by A24, so I think we can safely assume that it is definitely worth checking out.

Dave is a super smart and thoughtful dude and I hope you appreciate his openness in discussing his work and experiences as much as I did during the conversation.

Links

Song of the Earth on Bandcamp

Dirty Projectors on Substack

Dirty Projectors Creates a Symphony for a Burning World (The New Yorker)

"The Legend of Ochi"

Ecosystem Member Substack