Windmills Traveling on Interstate 580 in northern California, one is struck with the powerful visual impact of the wind turbines of the Altamont Pass wind farms. Posed dramatically on these hills are more than 7,000 rotors that spin as the Pacific Ocean’s cool air funnels into the Central Valley. But it is not until one gets far enough away from the highway that another dimension becomes apparent: these machines not only dance, they sing!

The opening section of Windmills explores the natural sounds of the wind farms, layered and contoured to depict the landscape made up of flowing curves. Soon, the dramatic roar from inside the tower of a spinning rotor carries the listener into a more active sound environment.

Gradually, striving toward the surface of this brutal activity is a celebration of a precursor of the modern wind turbine — a Dutch folksong about windmills.