Dry Stone Wall, Fern Bundle and Fence

Field Recording Composition
Glenshee Scotland

2023

Near some boggy, moss laden land I placed my mics to record the sounds of a fern. There was nothing special at the glance of an ear or an eye. One contact mic pressed vertically against the stems of the fern, a hydrophone placed deep into a gap of a crumbling dry stone wall with mossy dresses, and stereo mics set to capture the familiar of the above ground environment. Naturally, as I placed my headphones over my ears, I honed in on the unfamiliar. A subterranean world revealed itself through the contact mic, not audible to the naked ear. My movements or the vibrations of the field recorder and mic may have caused disturbance or, I had been eavesdropping on an already chaotic frenzy of communication or ritual. Creaks and cracks and a repeating rhythm competed with each other like tiny drills and chainsaws, assumed to be emanating from ticks or spiders. This repeating rhythm was like a subterranean chorus, a murmuration of the underworld. I felt at once completely enthralled and guilty to be encroaching on this tiny place uninvited. I joined in the chorus, placing a geophone on the adjacent fence and playing it in droney unison.