An abstract response to the composer’s Mid-Ulster homeland, The Sunlit Thawing articulates memories and experiences evoked by the gentle creaking of an ancient hazel tree, recorded at Drumnaph Wood, Northern Ireland in April 2019.

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When I found it, the sun fell across it; flaked bark and moss,
rimed crisp on the winter’s edge.

It burnt across the wood, as it had done for centuries. That ancient hazel tree
    warmed,
as I stood in silence.

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The Sunlit Thawing was realised in the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Birmingham between April and August 2019, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

Image credit:
National Gallery of Art, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

The Sunlit Thawing

An electroacoustic composition exploring the internal and surface sound worlds of a rotten branch. 

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Single branch, on edge of River Severn.

Southwesterly winds; internal vibrations.

Jagged, rotten bark. Decaying sapwood; cross-sectional transition to sodden heartwood. Partial and complete submergence. Descent towards dense mud. Envelopment of flaked bark fragments. Glimpses of common reeds and shoreline during incoming tidal flow.

Decomposition processes.

Common woodlouse, brown centipede and white-legged snake millipede. Larvae of deathwatch, stag, lesser stag and red-headed cardinal beetles.

Invertebrate palps, mandibles, antennae, body segments, wings, elytra, and mucous membranes.

Larval stages, egg casing friction and arthropod communications.

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Deadwood was realised in the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Birmingham between September 2018 and January 2019, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

This track is a stereo mixdown of the original 8-channel piece.

Image Credit: 
Janson, E. W. [Public domain], Wikimedia Commons

Deadwood

Machair (Gaelic; roughly pronounced ‘mah-hur’). Noun [mass noun]. Fertile, wildflower-rich grassland habitat found on the northwestern coastlines of Scotland and Ireland.

•

Five sonic impressions from the perspective of a great yellow bumblebee, composed out of source materials gathered around the Hebridean Island of South Uist in August 2019:

I – Open grassland with red clover and knapweed, from Daliburgh to Askernish. 
II – Internal sounds of thistle, burdock, ragwort and Yorkshire fog grass.
III – Great yellow bumblebee queen (reconstructed nest interior). 
IV – Bumblebee mating activity (reconstructed nest entrance).
V – North Atlantic surf, from the ancient burial grounds at Cladh Hallan.

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Machair Impressions features detailed recordings of great yellow bumblebee (B. distinguendus) mating activity, made during fieldwork for the piece in August 2019. Based on extensive post-fieldwork checks with wildlife sound practitioners, archivists and conservation experts, these unique behavioural recordings were likely the first of their kind for the species, whose UK distribution is now largely confined to the northwest Scottish coast.

The piece was realised in the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Birmingham between November 2019 and February 2020, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC). All fieldwork for the composition was facilitated by the Midlands4Cities Student Development Fund.

Thanks to Darryl Cox, Helen King, Barnaby Smith and Gill Perkins at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, whose support was vital during planning and fieldwork for the piece. Special thanks to Bill Neill, who provided invaluable local guidance during my time on South Uist.

Image Credit:
Wikimedia Commons

Machair Impressions

Hollow oak trunk interior. Common buzzards (Buteo buteo) observed over woodland canopy at 8:50am. Moderate SSW winds.

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Oak Trunk was realised in the composer’s private studio between March and July 2020, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

Image credit:
National Gallery of Art, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

Habitat 1: 'Oak Trunk'

Partial shelter amongst broadleaf woodland understorey. Emerging tawny owls and pre-roost pheasant calls. Steady precipitation throughout, with passing shower. 11˚C.

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Woodland Understorey was realised in the composer’s private studio between March and July 2020, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

Image credit:
Heath, Francis George [Public Domain], Wikimedia Commons

Habitat 2: 'Woodland Understorey'

Single perspective from sediment (1.24m depth). Curious tadpoles. Small rocks and invisible currents. Photosynthesising water mint. Single female mallard call from surface.

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Pond Sediment was realised in the composer’s private studio between March and July 2020, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

Image credit:
Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Maria Sibylla Merian [Public Domain], Wikimedia Commons

Habitat 3: 'Pond Sediment'

Shallow waters on Irish coast. Underwater perspective of breaking waves through kelp. Fleeting glimpse of raven. Passing greylag geese, beneath United Airlines flight UA2789 (Frankfurt to Houston).

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Seabed was realised in the composer’s private studio between March and July 2020, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

Image credit:
Glaucus, or, The wonders of the shore / by Charles Kingsley [Public Domain], Wikimedia Commons

Habitat 4: 'Seabed'

My memory is of reeds in a slowly seeping tide; thick clay, barely a morning (or anything). A thousand-year grey air pushed through tall stems, teasing another world to mud roots before the water took them.

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Mud Roots was realised in the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Birmingham between July and September 2019, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

Image credit:
Weaver, John E.  [Public Domain], Wikimedia Commons

Mud Roots

Reflections and re-imaginings from Talisker Bay Beach, Isle of Skye.

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Incoming tide. 

Microscopic seaweed textures and suspended sand particles. Enclosed pools, wrought amongst saltwater rock. Jellyfish propulsion mechanisms. Feeding processes of limpets, crabs and snapping shrimp. Brief, surface glimpses of Anthus petrosus, foraging between waves.

Ancient volcanic activity and deep tectonic shifts.

Lines of ancestral connection between past and present shores.

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Shorelines was realised in the Electroacoustic Music Studios at the University of Birmingham between December 2018 and March 2019, with support from the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (AHRC).

This track is a stereo mixdown of the original 8-channel piece.

Image credit:
G. B. Sowerby [III] lith. [Public domain], Wikimedia Commons

Shorelines

Mark Ferguson is a UK-based wildlife sound recordist and sound artist. His award-winning work explores the unique and intricate sonic detail of the natural world, with an emphasis on species conservation.

Mark’s projects and compositions have been broadcast by the BBC, mentioned by the Guardian, and performed in leading arts and cultural venues worldwide. His ongoing creative and research interests include: the development of new narrative approaches for bat detecting; electroacoustic music composition with wildlife sounds; the potentialities of audio practice for environmental awareness-raising; and wildlife sound cataloguing.

Mark is a member of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society, Bat Conservation Trust and Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, and is an established contributor to the Wildlife and Environmental Sound Archives at the British Library.

Mark Ferguson

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