Waldara recordings | Stuart Henry

WALDARA RECORDINGS

Stuart Henry

WALDARA, AUSTRALIA        Published   13.01.22

Some old friends and I ventured in-land from Sydney in November of 2020 beyond the Blue Mountains and far in to the country side to our home for the next five days - Waldara Farm. We started a new music project and set out to record an album there in a cabin located on the farm. I brought my Mamiya RB67 + some 35mm cameras with me and In between playing guitar for the record I took the opportunity to document the journey. We since named the project Old Friends and the album ‘Clarity’ which is now complete and available for your ears, so I encourage you to listen along on your journey here.

We arrived to the farm in the late afternoon and as is custom with field trips, we surveyed the land. Green mossy fields, a lake with a bridge, endless trees, horses, giant boulders and an encouraging sunset all there to welcome us.

By evening the studio was setup and ready to ‘rock, so we got in tune and went to work. Not long after the first chord was struck, the rain started to fall on the tin roof. It wound up weaving it’s way into the record, a granular layer of sorts. If you listen closely you can hear it in the title track Clarity. This track in particular was spontaneous for the most part, so the rain was but a welcomed guest.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my Mamiya RB67 had developed a truly dignified light leak, so there’s that. It didn’t take long before cabin fever set in and we scouted the fields to record a couple of the tracks out in the open. The lake in front of the cabin was the most obvious destination of choice and the most convenient for gear hauling purposes. The guy on the jetty is Kristian Jones - this project was his dream, and it was really cool to play a part in it.

The farm had golf carts for getting around the acreage, but in a cool way, so we jumped in those and found the next scene to record a track, a place unofficially known as ‘The Hill of great Boulders’.

It was an intense week…. We made music early each morning and recorded well into the night, so the moments of silence and contemplation were necessary.

Thank you for joining me on the journey of the Waldara Recordings. The talented Amanda Jones from The Honest Jones recorded this clip below among a few others from the trip, enjoy if you must!

Stuart Henry is the founder of Shoot FIlm Magazine. You can find Stuart here:
Instagram: .instagram.com/filmstu.k/

You can listen to the album Clarity here:
Apple Music: apple.com/au/album/clarity
Spotify: spotify.com/album/clarity

Music videos up now on Youtube: youtube.com/oldfriends

Follow the Journey of Old Friends online:
Instagram: instagram.com/oldfriends.band
website: website: oldfriends.band

The ‘Old Friends’ In no particular order - Nik Karlin, Rachel Allan, Jordi White, Kristian Jones, Hannah White, Ryan Trestrail, Stuart Henry.
with special mentions to chef - Courtney Trestrail and Videographer - Amanda Jones .