2024, Audiobulb, Sheffield, UK
As an artist working with sounds that tend to be science adjacent, one phenomenon that I’m continually intrigued by is the concept of the dawn chorus – both with regard to the ornithological sense of the term, as well as the electromagnetic – not to mention the various confluences that the two may engender. In the case of the former, while not a birder, or at least not one as devoted as numerous colleagues, the avian dawn chorus is an interesting measurement of the ecological health of a region – simply put, barring some exceptions, more birds equals a healthier ecosystem – and on several occasions, one can track a noticeable difference in activity as human development encroaches farther and farther into the few remaining wild spots left on this planet. With that in mind, I find myself continually compelled to document these moments of birdsong whenever I can, which, in this case, typically manifests as an early morning activity (possibly triggered by my own personal response to the electromagnetic dawn chorus) that I typically start my day with while on holiday in the tropics.
In the case of these tracks, the recording was conducted starting at 5 AM on July 14, 2022 just outside Manuel Antonio National Park near Quepos, Costa Rica. I’d previously visited the area in 2003 and was dumbstruck by the natural beauty of the region, as well as the explosive biodiversity. To this day I still have a slight fear of iguanas – though not due to any misunderstanding of these generally passive creatures, or through any reference to Japanese monster movies, but because nearly anything encountered in the sheer numbers that I saw of those things on that trip would be offsetting to anyone.
Revisiting the park nearly 20 years later, while nature was still abundant in comparison, development around the park had grown exponentially – hotels lined the perimeter, tickets were timed, and once inside, any of the more exotic specimens bold enough to show themselves to the throngs of tourists were met with a phalanx of telephoto lens-yielding human specimens in moisture-wicking adventure outfits complete with floppy sunhats and extra pockets with various tactical theft-deterrent cable stitching prominently displayed throughout.
In the case of the resultant dawn chorale tying these tracks together, while the area outside of Manuel Antonio’s grown substantially since my last encounter, it’s still several miles from the nearest supply town, port or grocery store – meaning that along with the birds and the rest of the jungle springing to life at the first signs of light, such was also the case with the humans of the area as a battalion of supply trucks descended on the region for the daily re-supply of breakfast bars, snack kiosks and other dry goods and various sundries – which, in a way is only appropriate in the idea that we sapient primates, while going to great lengths to exclude ourselves from the natural order of our environments, through our routines only ingrain ourselves more into the thick of it. And such was the initial basis of this record.
For the rest of it, it was a bit of a roll of the dice. Earlier in the year, I’d collaborated with Audiobulb on a Eurorack module called the Alma de Luz, which is an unstable delay of sorts modulated by an LFO de-signed to simulate a flickering light bulb. Looking to go for a bit of a vintage ambient vibe I chose to use the unit on every track ala a certain harmonizer unit utilized by that one producer of the era. With that in mind, the other limitation that seemed to impose itself was that considering the goal was to emphasize this one piece of hardware, all other sounds needed to be derived from hardware as well.
From that, somehow this evolved into a keyboard record as various synths were set up in succession on the kitchen table and given their time at bat. For those into such things, the lucky culprits were a MicroFreak, Little Phatty, Novation KS4 (because you never know when you need a period-appropriate trance sound in your mix) and a Hydrasynth. Outside of that, not much else was used other than the peppering of a few select synth modules (Rings, Menu de Secreciones, Fabrica de Unicornios Muertos) and a Norns to smooth things out from time to time.
Most tracking was done at home in Ithaca, with the brunt of the mixing completed in Cozumel, Mexico and Portland, Oregon in July 2023. Final tweaks and mastering were done out at my uncle’s farm in Georgetown, Delaware in November and there you have it, from my heart to your ears or something to that extent.
Thanks once again to the Audiobulb crew for giving these tracks a home and providing the inspiration for making it happen, as well as to my wonderful, understanding family who somehow manage to put up with kitchens full of keyboards and early mornings on holiday spent mixing records and recording birds.
Hypermetacontextual 