Freshkills by Heather Campanelli

Music inspired by Freshkills Park, the largest landfill-to-park transformation on the planet.

In operation from 1948-2001, Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island became the largest household garbage dump globally, receiving 150 million tons of New York Cityʼs solid waste during that time. It was in the early 2000ʼs that the conceptualization of landfill to wilderness park entered the civic conversation, and thus began a radical transformation.

This album contains the compositions and field recordings featured in the collaboration between musician Heather Campanelli and Freshkills photographer-in-residence Jade Doskow (jadedoskowphotography.com).

Woven together from a combination of field recordings out on site and studio electronics, Campanelli’s soundscapes create a rich tapestry of birdsong, hissing methane wells, original tonalities, and traffic, that help encapsulate the unusual landscape on view in Doskow’s photographs.

Jade Doskowʼs large-scale photographs of the iconic New York landfill-turned-park make clear itsʼ paradoxical, ethereal beauty, while creating an important archive of a major chapter within the story of New York Cityʼs infrastructure.

Musician and composer Heather Campanelli’s multifarious music career started after earning her degree in Contemporary Music at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She currently composes electronic music using her rapidly expanding collection of synthesizers and now, through the Freshkills project, has added field recordings into her arsenal of compositional tools.

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