Built with the aim of offering a sonic resource for comfort and calming, composer Danny Clay and The Living Earth Show created Music for Hard Times: an experimental new age album and written score of composed “calming strategies.” Music for Hard Times exists as a work of experimental music in the truest sense, in that it was created to answer a fundamental research question: “is it possible for us to use the tools of classical art music to make people feel better?”

Recorded in isolation over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Music for Hard Times exists in two parts.

Book 1 was recorded independently by TLES and Danny Clay in April of 2020 in their homes using instruments, voices, field recordings, and found objects.

Book 2 was recorded by TLES, Danny Clay, and young musicians from the San Francisco Girls Chorus (led by Valerie St. Agathe) and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (led by Edwin Outwater) in 2021.

The album is released in conjunction with an ambient film created by mixed media artist Jon Fischer and a limited edition hard cover hand-bound zine created by visual artists Brandie Grogan and Nick Ross. The book contains the full score of Calming Strategies, program notes by Timo Andres, short writings by the performers and composer, the cd itself, and a digital download of the album.