Michael Scott Dawson’s ambient music draws on rural memories
The Canadian sound artist and producer talks about his spacious new album, Find Yourself Lost
Today, the Spotlight shines On Canadian producer and sound artist Michael Scott Dawson.
Michael joined us to mark the release of his third solo album, Find Yourself Lost, a collection of country-adjacent, Western-themed ambient recordings issued by Toronto label We Are Busy Bodies. This album is ethereal without being space music and is steeped in melody, tape loops, and Michael’s own field recordings. He has made an emotional, never sterile, ambient work. You can visit this episode’s show notes for links to the music.
Despite the album’s personal nature, which Michael discusses, Find Yourself Lost is also the first time he has included other musical contributors to one of his solo albums, something we also learn about in this conversation.
Enjoy.
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References:
• Listen to Michael Scott Dawson's Find Yourself Lost on Bandcamp and streaming platforms.
• Follow Michael Scott Dawson on Instagram.
• Peace Flag Ensemble
• Ambient Church
• LA Story: Leaving Records and Music for Life Support
• Back To The Garden: The Return Of Ambient And New Age
• Hey, what's that sound: Oblique Strategies
• Want to be more creative? Go for a walk
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Michael Scott Dawson
Musician / Early Stage Sentimentalist
Michael Scott Dawson is a Canadian producer and sound artist. Anchored by frayed melodies, tape loops, and pastoral field recordings he has crafted a body of tender and nostalgic ambient work.
On his third solo LP, Find Yourself Lost, Dawson veers toward the fringes of country and western. Although ‘cosmic’ has become catchall descriptor in both country and ambient music, Dawson reaches for something more earthly. Something more grounded. Ribboning miles of pedal steel nestle into hushed tones and gossamer textures. Reflecting on the process he states, “It took some time to find myself in it. The first few pieces I made were embarrassingly twangy. I love spaghetti and I love western but never the two shall twain.” Instead, Dawson began to experiment with alternate tunings and granular guitar. He recorded and mixed a full album, and then called upon a handful of friends and kindred peers to improvise on top of it. Treating their contributions like found sounds or samples he stole little moments, manipulated passages, and dismantled his original recordings in the process.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that Dawson was drawn in a country-adjacent direction, he literally grew up adjacent to country. His childhood home was a block from the rodeo grounds in a town where everyone wore cowboy boots to weddings and funerals. Throughout the album he draws from memories of his youth, like time spent on the family farm where John Wayne movies played on an endless loop and a velvet painting of an outlaw with an eyepatch hung above the television.
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