World Listening Day 2012: East Coast Low

To celebrate World Listening Day 2012, I'm sharing this piece compiled from recordings made in early June when Sydney was soaked by an immense low pressure system that battered the coast with wind, rain and massive surf.

Late night at Flynn's Beach, Port Macquarie

On a recent trip to Port Macquarie on the mid-north coast of NSW, I took the opportunity to record the sounds of late night surf at Flynn's Beach.

On this piece, I've combined three different recordings, each taken from a slightly different position on the beach. One well behind the beach, one on a set of stairs leading down to the beach and one on teh sand just beyond the wash zone. I almost lost the recorder on one occasion when a freak wave washed much further up the beach than expected.

Port Macquarie is an interesting stretch of coastline with some distinctive beach structures and surrounding vegetation. Despite being heavily developed, there are some areas of native vegetation that has been protected. In particular, one of the last stands of subtropical rainforest on teh NSW coast. If you're in the area, drop by the Sea Acres Rainforest Cafe.

Myalup Dunes after sunset

Myalup Dunes After Sunset  

The recording below was made in the dunes near my house just after sunset. Sitting in the dunes is an interesting listening experience as the sound of the ocean reverberates around the surfaces of the steep sand faces and down into the valleys between them. Depending on the time of day, the sea breeze can also produce an interesting resonance. There was no wind when this recording was taken so it just the crickets and waves off in the distance.

new Seaworthy album: Bellows and Breath

The Preservation label presents Bellows and Breath, the fourth album from Sydney’s Seaworthy.

Seaworthy is the musical guise of Cameron Webb, who for the best part of a decade has developed singular soundscapes scored with guitar-driven ambience, field recording and digital processing. In recent years, Webb has recorded to acclaim for the esteemed 12K label, releasing the 1897 album in 2009 followed by a collaboration with Matt Rosner, Two Lakes.

His compositions reflect his deep connection to environment and nature; each piece often feels like a journey through beautiful, untethered terrain. For Bellows and Breath, Webb has explored a different terrain of his own, paring back his trademark guitar to build a work based largely around harmonium, melodica and found sounds. By way of its title, Bellows and Breath is a new side to Webb’s sonic meditations on movement, air and its interaction with the environment.

The pure rhythmic hiss and crackle of the harmonium’s bellows proved the inspiration for the way Webb played the harmonium itself, becoming an unforced undertow to a set of bowing chords that invoke an open spirit in their composition and measure. Spare and fluid acoustic guitar intermittently reflects off these surfaces, also layered by combinations of melodica, incidental rushes of wind through grass and distant sounds of birds, insects and more. This may be Webb once again in sentiment with nature, however Bellows and Breath represents a bold new step in his special and personal trajectory.

Released on CD in April 2012. Limited to 300 copies.

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Kooragang Island Frogs

This recording was made at night alongside a freshwater pond on Kooragang Island near Newcastle, NSW. Kooragang Island is a unique location because it was once an extensive estuarine wetland dominated by mangroves and saltmarsh. However, much of the land was reclaimed for agriculture and a network of roads and pathways were constructed across the site. As a result, a series of swales were created that, despite being amongst estuarine environments, retain mostly freshwater habitats. These habitats are highly dependent on seasonal rainfall but they provide locally important breeding habitats for threatened species such as teh Green and Golden Bell Frog. In this recording, you can hear two dominant species, Litoria peronii and Litoria fallax. These two "tree frog" species are relatively common in the local area.