When We Bow Down Our Heads is a one-hour work released on sirr-ecords and is available on Bandcamp.

When We Bow Down Our Heads celebrates the resonance of wind and its promiscuous and borderless nature. Its three movements combine 10 years of spatialized field recordings, live intervention of performers Wolf Robert Stratmann (double bass) and Inbal Hever (voice), and fragments of interviews that provide contextual turbulence. The voices that punctuate the hour-long work are, in order of appearance: The Geophysical Scientist Joonsuk Kang, the Illustrator and storyteller Lauren Redniss, and the interdisciplinary artist and composer Raven Chacon. When We Bow Down Our Heads premiered at the 24.2 channel Reforesters Laboratory Sound Clinic in Williamsburg Brooklyn in October 2025.

The work includes field recordings from:

• USA
  Accord, New York; Agate Beach, California;  Bloomville, New York;  Brooklyn Army terminal, New York; Casco Bay, Maine; Clear Lake, California; Deer Mountain Colorado; Four Corners, AZ/UT/CO/NM; Jackson, Wyoming; Jamaica Bay, New York; Pier 6 in Manhattan, New York; Ridgewood, Queens, New York; Robert Moses State Park, New York; Zion National Park, Utah.
• GREECE
  Kefalonia
• BORNEO
  Mabul Island 

The title is adapted from Christina Rosetti’s (1830 –1894) poem “Who Has Seen The Wind” and reimagines her short verses from the perspective of the trees that bow, not in subjugation, but in resiliency. 

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

Released December 5, 2025

Composed and recorded by John Roach
in collaboration with Wolf Stratmann on double bass and Mezzo Soprano Inbal Hever.
Cover design by John Roach, adapted from the work’s graphic score (see the score HERE)

John Roach is an interdisciplinary artist with a particular interest in sound and multisensory experience who builds environments that blur the line between what we see and what we hear. His work moves fluidly between intermedia installation, radio transmission, performance, object-making, and image-making. It is guided by a playful embrace of uncertainty – something that is often fully activated through collaboration. Many projects focus on themes related to ecological systems, biodiversity, and climate, such as the installation Scorched Honey Archive about the complex interconnections between humans and pollinators that was exhibited at NARS and BioBAT galleries in Brooklyn, NY.

Inbal Hever is a mezzo-soprano whose repertoire spans between Baroque and contemporary experimental music. She has appeared as a soloist in Israel, Europe, and the United States. Her work explores the relation between voice, body, and movement, often unfolding through collaborative processes. Her recording of Chaya Czernowin’s Adiantum Capillus-Veneris, Etude in Fragility for Voice and Breath (WERGO, 2017) was named by Alex Ross in The New Yorker among the year’s notable performances and recordings. In 2022, her ongoing collaboration with photographer Sam Contis was featured in the exhibition Duet at Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York (“a stunning, expansive duet,” The New Yorker).

Wolf Robert Stratmann is a bassist and composer from Bielefeld, Germany. His work focuses on contemporary jazz, experimental music, often intertwining improvisation with soundscape recordings and deep listening practises. Wolf leads original projects, including collaborations with long-time creative partner Sujae Jung. Recent collaborations include Steve Cardenas, Marko Djordjevic, Ned Rothenberg, and Satoshi Takeishi, Jane Rigler and John Roach. He was a recipient of the 2024 Living Jazz “Jazz Camp West” scholarship and recently completed his Master’s at The New School in New York City, where he received the Dean’s Award for outstanding academic achievement. Wolf’s work has been acknowledged by the New York City Jazz Records Magazine. 

The work has been broadcast in whole or as an excerpt in the following shows:

Reviews

• A Closer Listen
  By Richard Allen / January 7, 2026