The Music of the Anthropocene

I've posted before about Karl Schroeder's excellent Unapocalyptic newsletter. A recent post diverges from the usual topics of science fiction and futurism to look at some modern music; The Music for the Anthropocene, as he puts it. 

I grew up in the 70s in a small Canadian prairie town during the era of progressive rock bands like King Crimson and Yes. They’re what I listened to on vinyl. If you were driving or hanging out at the mall, you’d be hearing top-40 tunes almost exclusively. But Brandon, Manitoba is a university town with a music school, so I also grew up around summer madrigals where they played the hits of the 1600s, and my parents listened to old-timie music as well as Tschaikovsky and Beethoven.

Fast forward to 2023, and the grocery stores are still playing the same top-40 hits as they were in the 80s. I know a lot of people my age who are cool with that; they listen backward, to the music of their youth, but I like to keep current, and there is a vast torrent of great music flooding the world right now. I feel a bit like the Angel of History, being blown backward into the future while I snatch at composers and bands as they fly by. I’ve only just discovered Hania Rani or Agnes Obel when there’s a new Fleet Foxes album or I stumble across a composer like Anna Clyne or Dobrinka Tabakova. There isn’t enough time in the day to take it all in.

Lately, though, some pieces are holding my attention not because they capture the aesthetic of the day, but because they engage with the moment in other ways: they are music about life in the Anthropocene. Here are a few that I’ve had on steady rotation. 

Like Karl, I have been trying to keep more current in my listening, and I was glad to have a chance to explore his musical suggestions. 

Out of the pieces that he recommends, my favourite was Mass for the Endangered by Sarah Kirkland Snider. It manages to combine the classical tradition of the mass with modern elements and is a beautiful piece of music. I also enjoyed Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Fordlandia. Both bear repeated listening. Links are in his post. 

He cites several other composers in his post and I expect to be checking them out in the future.