We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Wind City Airport

by Nature's Neighbor

supported by
bruce645
bruce645 thumbnail
bruce645

Sunday afternoon,
I am melancholy but not sad.
my company has been closed for three months, i know it will be hard to start again.
something positive, however, in this bad period there is.
My family and the music from my huge vinyl collection.
I discovered in this period a fabulous record that perfectly represents my state of mind
For me, "wind city airoport" is already a record of the year Favorite track: Those Wedding Bells.
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    4 panel wallet with a high gloss finish featuring photography by Cheer Zhao & Mike Walker. Layout and design by Mike Walker. Released by TaiDuo Music in 2020.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Wind City Airport via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 99 

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 16 Nature's Neighbor releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Live Collections, Vol. 1, The Glass Album, Michael & The Whale, Walking Around, Nighttime Underpass, YM&TP Mk2, O T H E R S I D E, Tall Order, and 8 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $61.50 USD or more (25% OFF)

     

1.
seeing my love wield such a heavy club and i'm alive again, high again i'm counting the minutes til we all are finished with our lives again, by my friend i'm high again high again.. seeing my dreams working heavy machines and it's not right again to be high again i'm taking my cues from places i've been to and its alright again, hi again i'm high again high again..
2.
By the Lake 02:42
back home in the West i had tried my best keeping it together a little better than before we moved on from there with a sudden stare i barely even remember the pain and even if those dreams were real they'd drift away in a minute and even if my life was forfeit i'd forget sitting by the lake this must be the place remember when you wrapped your arms and legs around my waist? you cried through your sweater but now you're doing better you barely even remember my name and even if those dreams were real they'd drift away in a minute and even if it all was for not you forgot
3.
well i was walking by the turbines by the time i made the sunrise it was setting in another part of town and then i missed out it aint easy teasing me with the question of how we all got here.. and all my dreams were disconnected every frame completely separate when i try to tell you now i know it makes no sense no it aint easy seizing these little chances when everything seems clear January, hello again you seem just like my distant friends i saw you last year one time so cold another sign i'm getting old and all my friends were sitting talking all their phones were all turned off all telling stories 'bout the old days when our eyes were beaming gold rays it aint easy pleasing me with the idea that we're now spread so thin but then i woke up in a train yard with the windows glowing yellow on the cold wet dirty pavement my knees and hands were shaking cause it aint easy being these other people that we see out on the street January right behind me it seems just like my past lives dreams i see them still, on silver screens the greatest films i've ever seen dream on your own time thats fine
4.
nothing's wrong somethings right under the surface walking out on the night just like i'm lurking feel the love, feel the light i guess it's working tell me whats on your mind if you've been hurting tell me whats going on what you been thinking? do you feel that your heart is slowly sinking? cast a line out to sea then sink those hooks in you were smiling at me i caught you looking at my reflection just a bit of introspection for that classic passive passenger in me doing laps 'round the moon to pass the night by everyone that you love gone waving bye-bye things you cannot control man it's not worth it letting them spill your blood there's just no purpose for this to linger just a second more between us there's an obstacle impossible for me
5.
all on board (we got a story going somewhere..) we don't give a damn (cause thats's just how we do it here) what would you say? yeah, what would i say? glance to the left and then to the right before you make up your mind would it really be so bad? would it really be so bad? i've got a pocket of gold and more where it came from but nobody to share it with i've got a pocket of gold but nobody's around or down ohh..
6.
the darkest mind the greyest sky i've ever seen no sun today not much to say about anything the gravel scrapes the raindrops taste like memories my bones they creak the floorboards squeak out melodies this golden age of dreaming is almost done and i've known it all along it was on the wall.. the sound of wind meandering through cracks in glass the windows cry for someone's eyes to cast a glance this golden age of dreaming is almost done and i've known it all along those secret songs they'll all be forgot they'll all be forgot but since i talked to you you showed me theres another view and i realize its not my time i hide a knife behind these eyes..
7.
it's alright if you can't take time time moves steady, it'll be there tomorrow time is a shapeshifter in my mind i've taken more than I should borrow right now running my fingers through your long black hair time is a ghost in moments when you are around but i know it'll come right back ignoring it is the only way to kill it but then it rears its head it was only hiding it isn't dead its never dying washed up to shore like the long lost tide the wind carries me like a babe to your doorstep thank the great sprit in the sky that i didn't take time to ask where i was going and then you show your face you were only hiding i missed this taste you were so inviting you need some space to find some light inside a place where time is dying
8.
little words spoken quietly never stand test of time little things you do silently resting easy on my mind.. little boy, you think you're a man well, have you carried the weight? of the one who loves you everyday through the darkness and the rain she believed that you.. said you always stay if you never meant it then why did you say? little boy, learn from your father now bring home bread, learn from mistakes little child, look at your mother now see the light gone from her face she believed that you.. said you always stay if you never meant it then why did you say?

credits

released January 29, 2020

"Nature’s Neighbor has a knack for evoking emotion. The musical project of Chicago multi-instrumentalist Mike Walker, does not shy away from much; both lyrically and musically. Nature’s Neighbor is more than just someone making music, it’s a friend— offering a lend shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen."

- Phluff

"Wind City Airport is one of the most straightforward and uninhibited releases of [Walker's] career, employing shuffling Americana and plaintive arrangements of guitar and piano to evoke the driftless feeling of being trapped at the airport."

- The Alternative

"Thoughtful indie rock buoyed by luxe arrangements that never feel too slick or too overwhelming. Elegantly produced and intimate as always."

- Bandcamp

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

All songs written & performed by Nature's Neighbor

** Except for 'Fullerton' which was written by Daniel Lee **

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

Mike Walker - piano, guitar, slide guitar, harmonica, organ, Rhodes, bass, melodica, vocals, lyrics

Seth Engel - bass, drums, bongos, guitar, auxiliary percussion

Daniel Lee - guitar, vibraphone, vocals, lyrics

Beau Reddington - lyrics

Alex Moore - handclaps

Russell Harrison - violin

Perry Cowdery - guitar

Terrill mast - piano

** Bass part for 'Fullerton' originally written by Mike Nardone **

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

Recorded & mixed @ Pallet Sound by Seth Engel

Album artwork by Cheer Zhao & Mike Walker

Mastered by Michael Mac @ Pallet Sound

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

Wind City Airport, more than any other album in my discography, is a work that signals the end of an era. Not only was it the last album that I made during the 2010s, a decade that saw the birth of Nature’s Neighbor, but it was also the last album to be made while Cheer and I were traveling back and forth between China and the US. It was the last album made while Cheer was working as a flight attendant for American Airlines. And it was the last album made in a pre COVID-19 world, before the pandemic would alter the course of so many of our lives.

And although I could not have known that so many things were about to drastically change come 2020, I did feel a sense of things coming to an end. And that feeling of things ending is all over this album. You can see it in the album cover, a photo taken by Cheer where I’m on our balcony watching the sun go down over Chicago’s Lower West Side. You can see it in song titles like “Counting the Minutes” and “January Again.” And you can hear it in the lyrics I wrote and the way that I sang them. There is a deep melancholy to this entire album. It’s something that, at the time of making it, I didn’t fully understand. But now, looking back a few years later, I can see a version of me that somehow intuitively knew that with the dawn of 2020, things would never be the same.

And that is a sad feeling. I loved the 2010s, for the most part anyway. I feel like the first half of the 2010s was filled with this great optimism. Maybe that was just me being in my early 20s, I’m not sure. But I’m sure that most American’s can agree with me that the second half of the 2010s felt a great deal darker and heavier than say 2010-2014/2015. And it’s not just Americans that can feel this. I’d go so far as to say that it was a global thing.

And that brings me to China. I had no idea that 2019 would be the last year that Cheer and I would visit her family in Nanchang together. When Cheer and I left in January of 2019, I figured that we’d be back in six months or something like that. But sadly, with the coming of COVID-19 and the deterioration of our marriage, that was not to be. Knowing what I know now, I look back on that final trip to Nanchang with a lot of fondness as well as a good deal of sadness. I loved visiting China with Cheer. It was one of the most enlightening and life changing experiences of my entire life. From 2015 until that last trip in 2019, Cheer and I visited China about seven times, usually around the Chinese New Year. We’d usually stay for a month or two but some stays were even longer. My longest stay in China was three months. And during 2018 and 2019, due to Cheer being employed by American Airlines, we were able to fly to China in business class for under $100 USD. I have so many good memories of exploring Nanchang, Jingdezhen, Beijing and so many other parts of China with Cheer. Her family was always so kind to me, and I will cherish the memories we made for the rest of my life.

But as things were getting darker in America, ominous clouds were also gathering over China, and I could feel that as well. When I first visited China in early 2014, things felt very open and free. It felt like anything was possible and I was excited by the rapid growth I could see everywhere. It felt as though China was kfinallyopening up to the rest of the world. But as the 2010s came to a close, I could feel the government cracking down and the atmosphere start to take a dark turn. Although my last visit in 2019 was full of heartwarming family moments, when I would walk the streets alone, I started to feel that maybe China was not as good of a place for foreigners as I had once thought. All the same, we tried our best to enjoy every moment. One day, during our stay at her parent’s home, I wrote the opening track ‘Counting the Minutes’ on their upright piano. It felt like the start to a new project.

Upon returning to the US, getting sick, and then recovering, I felt very inspired to start a new album with Seth in Pallet Sounds, the same Bridgeport studio where we recorded all of Ur. So I started demoing out songs and booking all day studio sessions at Pallet. I had fallen in love with the studio while making the last album and thought it would be a good idea to make one more record there with Seth with essentially the same equipment. But I also knew that if we were to record another album in the same style as Ur, I would probably lose my mind. So I just went back to writing simpler songs on guitar and piano. It felt like a more honest and grounded way of songwriting.

Although I wasn’t as keen to collaborate with tons of other musicians like I was on the Ur sessions, I was delighted to have Daniel Lee come into the studio to track a song that we had demoed out five years prior called “Fullerton.” The song was mostly written by Dan and he named it after the street that we lived on when we were roommates back in 2011. Mike Nardone, our other 2011 roommate, showed up at the Owlrey to play bass on the demo back in 2014. That recording session would mark the last time the three of us would play music in the same room together. I always loved the song and when I was making track listings for the new album I thought it would fit in snugly with the other songs Seth and I were recording. Dan came down to Pallet and we knocked out the whole song in one session.

All of the songs on this album have a world weariness to them that give the album a very melancholic feel. Looking back now, it is very clear that I was in a bit of a depressed state when I wrote these songs. Songs like “January Again” express my feelings on the sadness that comes with the end of your 20s and feeling that youthful exuberance slowly drain out of you only to be replaced by numbness and regret. There’s a fondness and longing for the simpler times that came from experiencing my tight knit group of college friends becoming fragmented, more and more overcome with adult responsibilities, moving away and slowly falling out of touch. I think most people approaching their 30s who had a close group of friends in high school and or college can relate to a lot of the sentiments expressed in songs like “By the Lake” and “January Again.”

There is a lot of loneliness that is expressed on this album as well. I spent many nights walking down empty streets at night smoking joints and thinking “What the Hell happened?” Even when you’re in a relationship or surrounded by massive groups of people, you are not immune to feelings of intense loneliness. I especially felt that way during my time spent in airports when traveling back and forth from China and The US. I know it is a privilege to travel by air, especially across the world. But there is undeniably a unique existential dread that comes with being stranded at an airline terminal with your connecting flight nowhere in sight. I wish I could do more to better explain the complicated set of emotions that served as inspiration for the creation of this album, but for now, this will have to do. This album is for anyone who is stuck in an airport or airplane with a good pair of headphones and a lot of time to kill. We may be delayed for now, but I know that someday soon, we will all reach our destination. Fly safe.

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

'Wind City Airport' is dedicated to Kay Benson (1939 - 2019)

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Nature's Neighbor Kyoto, Japan

Nature's Neighbor is the project of song-writer Mike Walker and his friends.

contact / help

Contact Nature's Neighbor

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Nature's Neighbor recommends:

If you like Nature's Neighbor, you may also like: