A short film showcasing a local musician’s journey of turning wine harvest sounds into music is premiering at the SLO International Film Festival.
The film “Harvest Calls” chronicles Brook Munro's endeavor to produce his album “Harvest in Twelve Parts.” The album offers a sonically immersive experience, blending rich instrumentation with the sounds of harvest, including grapes being juiced and birds chirping in the vineyard.
When Munro isn’t making music, he is busy crafting wine at Claiborne & Churchill, an Edna Valley-based winery where he has worked for 16 years. The album idea came to him when he realized the creative parallels between making wine and composing music.
“Every person creating said thing, whether it's music or wine – they're going to have their own personality infused into it,” Munro said.
Winery co-owner Claiborne Thompson was intrigued when Munro asked to record sounds at the winery. He was curious to see how the harvest season would be artistically expressed.
“Harvest is a key part of the year, and the music that Brook created is much more esoteric than the reality of crushing grapes and so forth, but the connections are so beautiful,” Thompson said.
With the boss on board, Munro then decided to ask local filmmaker Kyle Plummer, a friend and longtime collaborator, to capture the process on film. Plummer was immediately interested.
“He processes all these sounds on the computer and turns them into instruments, and it's fascinating to watch,” Plummer said.
Plummer signed on to direct the documentary. In one of his favorite scenes to shoot, sunlight filtered through grape leaves, illuminating Munro and local cellist Bob Liepman’s faces in the vineyard.
“It was an amazing moment where the light hit perfectly, and you see Brook conducting with his hands in the air, and Bob playing in the middle,” Plummer said.
The two came up with the song “Under the Harvest Sky” on the spot, blending a four-note cello line with natural harvest sounds.
“I bring that in with the sounds of fresh juice being pressed– the sound of pumice after the juice has been squeezed out, and you have all these grape skins that have just been flattened out– and just touching it and feeling it,” Munro said.
Munro also aimed to capture the highs and lows of the harvest season through more dynamic tracks. The song “Crush Eternal” starts with a minimalist, raw soundscape before building up to a triumphant electric guitar crescendo.
“During harvest you're always up against the odds,” Munro said. “There are always things that aren't working out, some years more so than others, and I wanted to find a sonic expression of that.”
Alongside conventional instruments and natural sounds, Munro also delved into experimental recording techniques. To record the track, “Thieves of Joy,” he transformed wine glasses into musical instruments.
“We actually filled up a bunch of wine glasses with water and tuned them,” Munro said. “We found particular pitches that we were looking for, and then we used violin bows to bow them and created chords with that.”
The film's spirit is driven by Munro's bold experimentation– motivating director Plummer to experiment with angles and lighting in new ways.
“I was really playing with how far I could push it and the more extreme things I could do with it, like low light scenarios, natural light scenarios,” Plummer said.
Plummer, a board member of the SLO Film Festival, watches many films about wine each year. Yet, “Harvest Calls'' stands out with its unique take on this vital part of Central Coast culture. Plummer hopes the film will introduce Munro's unique talent and artistry to the audience.
“I hope that they are open to listening to the album and to have a new experience,” Plummer said. “It's very different; it's not like anything I've ever heard before.”
Munro hopes the film will show the hidden connections between wine and music.
“It was this huge manifestation of using what you have, and all the best things about it, and crafting something in the same way that you're crafting a nice, beautiful, layered, balanced wine,” Munro said.
The premiere of Harvest Calls is scheduled for Monday, April 29, at the Fremont Theater, followed by virtual streaming from May 1 to 5.
The KCBX Arts Beat is made possible by a grant from the Community Foundation, San Luis Obispo County.
