Fieldwave is our new compilation that unearths new compositions with field recording at their heart.
Curated by DJ and sonic adventurer Nick Luscombe (Late Junction, Musicity), it highlights a new wave of sonic artists incorporating natural sound into their work.
“There has been a boom of interest in capturing natural sounds for private listening and sharing, in part driven by the fact that many more people now have ready access to recording devices – their smartphones. There is not a single day that passes by that I don’t receive a record, CD, tape or link that features elements of field recordings.”
Nick Luscombe, curator
Kate Carr
The release brings together an extraordinary collection of recordings that take us all over the world. Kate Carr introduces us to a bridge in Saskatoon, Canada, while For Now and Darren Hayman create a drama in London’s Tower Hamlets. David Bamford reimagines the inside of a London bus as a slushie machine on ‘Mr Slush’, and Mark Vernon dips us into the Risør Harbour of South Norway. The release also features contributions from accordionist and recordist Tuuliiki Bartosik, Langham Research Centre’s Iain Chambers, art duo Hojo+Kraft, and a snippet of bird song recorded by Nick Luscombe himself.
Together, they represent the full breadth of field recording as an artform, from nature recordings, to sonic collage, to site-specific performance.
And with a contribution from Nonclassical founder and Artistic Director Gabriel Prokofiev, there’s field recording as reportage. On a recent trip to Hong Kong, he found himself amid the widespread protests of 2019. Taking out a pair of microphones, he captured chanting, cheers and the rattle of cans being kicked down the street – a symbolic gesture criticising the police. Coming in at 26 minutes, the track thrusts us into the heart of the year’s upheaval. The track will be released exclusively on the limited edition Fieldwave cassette.
Track list (click on the track name to find out more)
1. Hojo+Kraft – The Hours Descend
The Hours Descend is part of the audiowalk SHINONOME 東雲, a geolocalised work created for the Schlossgarten Karlsruhe Germany. Tomoko Hojo and Rahel Kraft explored the acoustics of dawn in relationship to walking and light during their residency at ZKM. Due to reduced visual inputs our auditory sensibility is expanded and we perceive sounds which are normally overheard. Dawn is a transition between night and day, dreaming and being awake, light and dark, silence and loudness, natural and supernatural, a daily phenomenon which is rarely connected to the sonic but rather to the visual impact during the blue hour.
2. Tuulikki Bartosik – Crossing Over Forest, Laho Lake, South EstoniaIain
'Crossing Over' is a piece of music about crossing the line between the eternal and mortal worlds. I think that trees tie together the past and the present, all the forgotten stories and history is preserved in them. The forest around Lake Laho in South Estonia is one of my favourite recording spots and also one of the places where I feel connected and grounded, one with the nature.
3. Iain Chambers – The Regent's Canal.
During the morning rush hour of bikes speeding along the Regent’s Canal in Haggerston, East London, you hear an orchestra of bike bells, as well as the Doppler effect. It’s rare to find so many pitched sounds when you’re out field recording. When I slowed the recordings down and messed them up, a different soundworld emerged, a kind of subterranean cousin of the original.
4. Kate Carr – Highway Bridge Drain Pipes, Saskatoon, Canada
This recording was taken on a cold Autumn day during a residency in Saskatoon, Canada. This prairie city is located on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River and because of this Saskatoon is a city of many bridges. This recording was taken underneath one of the city's busiest bridges, the thud of the passing cars echoed and vibrated through the highway drainage pipes; a tiny yet dramatic sonic enclave.
5. For Now – Yellow Flowers!
For Now is Susanna Grant and Joey Morris with sometime collaborator Darren Hayman. 'Yellow Flowers!' is a soundscape sewn from a number of recordings made in and around east London’s Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, just behind the Mile End Road.
6. Mark Vernon – Risør Harbour
A composite field recording of moored boats in the harbour. Rubber bumpers rub up against tyres on the sides of the dock. Recorded at Risør Harbour on the South Coast of Norway in November, 2012.
7. James Greer – Get Yer Kicks!
'Get Yer Kicks!' is made entirely from processed and recomposed field recordings made in a remote part of Hokkaido, northern Japan. It is early March, and the long, cold winter is beginning to show signs of retreat. An artist is painting.
Having dreamt for many years of Route 66, he now finds inspiration in the isolated, subarctic wilderness that surrounds his studio, located just off Route North 3.
8. Nick Luscombe – Tokyo Spring Birdsong
track information will be available shortly
9. D/BAM – Mr Slush
'Mr Slush' is constructed from recordings made spontaneously on and around the route of the 97 bus in North East London. I enjoyed the sounds of a noisy ice drinks machine at a bus station. 'Mr Slush' also seemed an accurate description of me and how I was interacting with the world at the time.
9. Bonus track (cassette only) "Ng Geen Yun" - No Police here! (Nathan Road, Hong Kong 02/11/2019)– recorded by Gabriel Prokofiev
track information will be available shortly
Fieldwave was released digitally on 17 January, and is also available as a limited edition cassette – only 100 copies available.