Ric Herrington’s Audiatic Orchestra – PROCESSION: The Environmental Symphony (Album Review)

Ric Herrington’s PROCESSION: The Environmental Symphony is less a collection of songs and more an immersion into an auditory landscape that feels alive, breathing, and constantly shifting. Where most concept albums use narrative to guide the listener, Herrington instead sculpts a world from sound itself. This is not music that merely accompanies the imagination; it creates the imagination, filling the air with living textures that seem to shimmer between reality and dream.

The album opens with The Meeting, a sonic prelude that acts as a threshold between ordinary hearing and what Herrington might call “audiation.” Spoken word drifts through layers of rustling leaves, gentle wind, and what sounds like ancient choral whispers buried beneath. The tones hover somewhere between pastoral and cosmic, suggesting an encounter with nature that’s both sacred and deeply human. It’s a soothing entry, but also an awakening; the world you knew outside the headphones dissolves into something far more vivid.

The River flows effortlessly from this introduction, carrying the listener downstream through the blend of guitar and the liquid murmur of running water. Herrington’s folk roots surface here, but they’re never dominant. Instead, the melody becomes one more element in the sound painting, rippling against the voice that urges, “Don’t forget the singing river.” The phrase lingers as more than a lyric; it’s an invitation to recognise melody in the non-musical, to hear harmony in the untrained voices of nature.

The First Dream marks a descent into deeper, more interior territory. The raven’s call punctuates an undercurrent of bass and trembling percussion, creating an atmosphere of both wonder and unease. The piece feels nocturnal, alive with unseen movement, flickers of light around a fire, and stories whispered to the stars. It’s here that Herrington’s sound design feels most like painting; each sonic gesture adds a brushstroke to a vast, invisible canvas.

With The Forest, the album expands outward again. The interplay of guitar, flutes, and birdsong evokes morning’s first breath. The music doesn’t just depict a forest, it is a forest, full of rhythm and motion, with every rustle of wing and sway of branch rendered in high fidelity. The production achieves an uncanny balance: meticulously layered but never artificial. It feels as though Herrington and his collaborators discovered a frequency that allows human instruments and natural ambience to exist in mutual respect.

The Journey takes the listener further along the path. The sound of ducks, footfalls, and whispered narration all contribute to a sense of motion and purpose. It’s meditative without becoming passive, an aural reminder that progress doesn’t always come from movement, but from attention. The piece radiates gratitude, as if Herrington’s decades of searching and revisiting this vision have culminated in the serenity of simply being present within it.

Then comes The Mountain, and with it, a breathtaking sense of arrival. The layering of gravel, wind, and soaring strings evokes ascent, both physical and spiritual. “There is such magic running through mother nature’s land,” the voice intones, and the soundscape rises around it like mist. The piece feels monumental yet tender, a sonic cathedral built from stone, air, and heartbeats.

The Second Dream sinks into a cooler, more introspective sound. The call of owls, the distant wolf, and the soft hum of night insects surround a slower, darker arrangement. It feels like reflection made audible, a reminder that even within peace there’s depth, mystery, and shadow.

The Sunrise brightens the horizon once again. Frogs, birds, and a glowing guitar line create a sense of renewal. The composition unfolds with warmth and gratitude, as though the night’s dream has lifted, and what remains is pure morning clarity. It’s reminiscent of George Harrison’s solo work in its spiritual lightness, a calm joy that needs no explanation.

Finally, The Return gathers all the album’s threads into one sweeping movement. Every sound that’s been introduced, the birds, the bees, the murmured voice, the folk guitar, returns as if to bow gracefully before fading into the horizon. It feels cyclical, as though Herrington has completed not just an album but a life’s journey back to where it began: listening to the world and finding it musical.

PROCESSION: The Environmental Symphony is not merely about music; it’s about the act of hearing itself. Herrington transforms natural sound into emotional resonance, creating a multi-sensory “ear painting” that is as much about perception as performance. Each track feels like an awakening, a “multiple eargasm,” as one might describe it, where every chirp, hum, and tone vibrates with purpose. It’s an album that doesn’t just entertain; it re-tunes the listener to the forgotten symphony that’s been playing around us all along.

SCORE / Outstanding – Each track feels like an awakening, a “multiple eargasm,” where every chirp, hum, and tone vibrates with quiet intention. It’s an album that doesn’t simply entertain but reorients the listener’s senses, reminding us that the world itself is a living composition, waiting to be heard. Go listen!

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

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