Cloud watching is a wonderful activity in the Pacific Northwest--especially in places where the updrafts from the ocean or the waterways encounter the winds from the mountains. In such dynamic locales the formation and re-formation of cloud shapes and the movement of cloud masses is endless--with visible changes from minute to minute. Cloud watching is a recreational activity similar to bird watching with enthusiasts who carry similar equipment: binoculars, spotting scopes, tripods, and cameras. (If you'd like to see pictures of some of the cloud formations visit the Cloudman web site or consult John Day's The Book of Clouds.)

These musical pieces take listeners in imagination up into the vapors to travel with and through the clouds. Some of my musical inspiration for these pieces comes from the album Dive by Tycho (Scott Hansen); his electronic atmospheres vividly evoke scenes of nature. In doing this album I also enjoyed exploring many sound capabilities of the Maschine Mikro pad controller. Two versions of the piece "Contrails" are included in the album, placed at the beginning and end so it's easy to compare the mixes. I suggest that, if you find a piece that you enjoy, try listening to it in a loop; that's a good way to hear subtle variations that can emerge in the music. It's also fun to use a visualizer with this kind of music (as found, e.g., in the iTunes player).