Sound mosaics for a broken world

Field recordings of a launch event for Waterdrop and river / run, two collaborative ecopoetry books focusing on rivers. With readings from poets Clare Whistler, Kay Syrad and Helen Moore, hosted at The Watershed, Dorset, UK. This is a an ecologically designed experimental station for climate-focused residencies, and the HQ of Cape Farewell. The Watershed lies on the Sydling Water, which can be heard in these recordings.

“Kankyō ongaku” is Japanese for “environmental music,” but also refers to a genre of electronic ambient music that developed in Japan in the 1980s. Field recordings were typically blended with minimalist melodies performed with synthesizers of the time. The music has its roots in the ambient music of Brian Eno, and the furniture music of Erik Satie, but has its own distinctive Japanese sensibility and aesthetic. This sound mosaic was produced as a tribute to this form of music, and was composed using similar approaches, blending field recordings collected in Japan with generative sequences performed on 1980s synthesizers, which were subjected to a number of randomisation procedures. With thanks to Spencer Doran, who has helped spread the word about this form of music, and how it is produced.

‘Medway tales: entangled human and other-than-human voices’ was co-created by sound artist Adrian Newton in collaboration with More-Than-Human researchers Valerie Nelson and Victoria Leslie, together with the River Medway and its pilgrims. Many thanks also to Toby Edwards for Medway recordings.

'The museum of failure' is a term that has been used to describe the accumulation of old vinyl records in charity shops. Strangely, wherever you are in the world, these abandoned records seem to be the same ones. This phenomenon raises questions about the cultural value of physical media, whether vinyl, cassettes or CDs. Further questions relate to the environmental impact of the dissemination of music, either as physical media or via the internet. Answers to these questions are explored through a visit to the museum of failure.

Featuring the work of environmental sound artist Chris Sciacca, who has recently been exploring the issue of e-waste using some innovative listening approaches. These include listening to waste processing facilities using microphones made from scrap materials, which have provided new insights into how these processes are affecting ecosystems.

Around 1400 of the world's bird species are now threatened with extinction, mostly because of human activities. This show features a recording of a sound installation created in 2024, incorporating calls and songs of some of the world's threatened birds. The installation was designed such that the bird sounds were modulated by the presence of people, providing a metaphor for human impacts on the environment. The original sounds were obtained from Xeno-Canto.org, whose contributions are gratefully acknowledged.

A radio play, profiling the archive of previous works produced by Wimborne Community Theatre.

A mosaic of sounds recorded at Heal Somerset, which is a rewilding project in rural Somerset, UK. A former dairy farm is being rewilded by allowing vegetation to develop naturally. https://www.healsomerset.org.uk/