Randall Poster, the Grammy Award-winning producer known for his work with directors Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese, created the unique Birdsong Project with the help of its Executive Producer, Rebecca Reagan.
Videos by American Songwriter
On June 24, Poster released Volume II of the compilation album, For the Birds: The Birdsong Project. The album includes a collection of 242 recordings of birds. Along with the chirping, it also stars some familiar and prominent faces in the music and movie industries
Featured in this four-disc album are huge names in music, including Elvis Costello, Yo-Yo Ma, Girlpool, The Flaming Lips, and Andrew Wyatt to name a few.
Breaking up the musical tracks, Poster presents spoken pieces with well-known actors and musicians, including Florence Welch, Jeff Goldblum, Natasha Lyonne, Matthew McConaughey, and Robert Pattinson. As these actors recite poems and written pieces from writers like Maggie Smith, Shel Silverstein, and Mary Oliver, to raise awareness for bird habitats.
As a reminder that humans play a part in the health of the earth, the proceeds from The Birdsong Project will be donated to the National Audobon Society, which is a non-profit that dedicates itself to the conservation of birds and their habitats. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of the threats to the bird populations.
“The music of The Birdsong Project is a reminder that we are part of nature, that the survival of life on planet earth—from trees to birds to humans—cannot be separated from the health of the planet,” Cellist Yo-Yo Ma said of the project.
Each month will see a new volume released until it reaches Volume V in September. You can listen to the project HERE and preorder the limited edition 20 disc boxset HERE. Check out Yo-Yo Ma’s performance of “In The Gale” from Vol. II below.
Elvis Costello (Photo: Mark Seliger)
