Artist and naturalist Sally Anne Morgan has shared the pastoral new single “Eye is the First”, taken from her new album Second Circle The Horizon, out on June 20th. Named for the Ralph Waldo Emerson essay Circles, where the album also pulls it’s name, specifically “The Eye is the First Circle, the horizon is the second.” The piece is a rustling journey through the pasture, with a lush blend of organic textural instruments freely moving in and out of focus, its repetitive guitar figures laying out rolling hills with chittering wildlife dotting the horizon and banjo shaped like rain and shadows.
The distinction of looking out beyond oneself and the cyclical nature of life’s patterns became central focuses of Morgan’s outlook and craft. In her own experience, circling back to her second pregnancy and to the ideas that started Cups (2021), coincided with her desire to meditate on circularity, to take in, create, and unleash something new imprinted with her voice as part of the chorus around her. The pieces themselves are true evocations of environmental atmosphere, replete with fleeting moments of joy, the buzzing din and repetitions of daily life, and spells of quiet solace.
Raised on old time and Appalachian folk traditions, Morgan’s artistry embodies the rich life of the communities and natural world she surrounds herself with. Based in Alexander, NC in the thick of Appalachia, and edge of the Pisgah National Forest, Morgan’s blend of traditional technique and distinctly modern compositional approach are infused with the sounds of her garden, surrounding pastures, forests and mountains. The rhythms of nature, its flora and fauna, are inseparable from her work which is in constant conversation with the people and places around her. Second Circle The Horizon is a meditation on returning, uncovering the new within the familiar and recognizing the familiar within the new. The album features guest synthesist Sean Dunlap (Field Patterns) and hurdy-gurdy player Brian “Geologist” Weitz (Animal Collective), as well as longtime collaborator/mixer Joseph Dejarnette.
