Austin's Walker Lukens & Chad Wadsworth reject AI slop in new nature project

Austin musician Walker Lukens and photographer Chad Wadsworth are launching Slow Atlas, a multimedia project in three parts: a YouTube channel of nature footage with original scores, a photo book with its own soundtrack, and a free launch concert at Central Machine Works on Friday, November 20.

It all started in Iceland. Lukens, a singer-songwriter and producer who has released several albums under his own name, originally planned to travel there to make a record at a remote studio. The idea soon outgrew a single album.

He brought in Wadsworth, a longtime friend and Austin music photographer whose work has run in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and Texas Monthly. The two first met at Float Fest in 2017.

"We get to do some work for the passion and some work for the paycheck, and this was a pure passion project," Wadsworth says.

The first piece to arrive is Slow Atlas TV, a YouTube channel that pairs hour-long films of remote landscapes with original scores. The team shoots all of their own footage, and a different musician scores each film.