2025 was declared the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation by the United Nations, accompanied by the proclamation of March 21st of each year as the World Day for Glaciers starting this year. As they put it, “this is an opportunity to raise global awareness about the critical role of glaciers, snow and ice in the climate system and the hydrological cycle, and the economic, social and environmental impacts of the impending changes in the Earth’s cryosphere.” To celebrate this decision forms of minutiae presents a series of albums dedicated to glaciers and the acoustic multiplicity of the ice with field recording works by Marc Namblard, Ludwig Berger, Yoichi Kamimura, Cheryl E. Leonard, and Pablo Diserens 

Following Marc Namblard’s "arctic summer", the series continues with its second album, "crying glacier", an intimate collaboration between the Vadret da Morteratsch (Morteratsch Glacier) and landscape sound artist and educator Ludwig Berger.   

The album was mainly recorded during the filming of the eponymous film "Crying Glacier", directed by Lutz Stautner (featured above), which documents Ludwig Berger’s recording and listening practice with the Morteratsch Glacier in the Swiss Alps. Much like the documentary, the LP version unveils the profound relationship between the glacier and the listener. Berger spent a decade visiting Morteratsch, so frequently that each time he returned, it felt like he was coming back to someone, not just something. “Like seeing an old friend” he shares in the film’s voice over. This intimacy is made palpable throughout the album. With each track the subtle, yet complex, soundscape of the glacier unfolds in myriads of sonic articulations. The melting ice grunts, growls, bubbles, cracks, breaks, snaps, gushes, trickles, and leaks — all in a splendid and intricate vocabulary. “A form of language” states Berger. Indeed, the abundance of lexicon birthed by the Morteratsch cannot be overstated. The strings of bubbles that the glacier releases as it melts bear not only the Earth’s ancient atmosphere but also a stunning range of expressivity. Bizarre voices materialize in water-filled crevasses, each with their own rhythm and phrasing. Some echo avian songs, some mammal grunts, some human speech, and some even venture into synthesizer mimicry. Throughout the album, these voices accumulate into a thick, multi-layered, glacial noise, as if Berger invited us into the microcosm of the ice. This extreme proximity is only occasionally interrupted by sudden zoom-outs that reveal the arid soundscape of the surrounding valley. “The zone where the glacier has recently melted is like a desert”, alerts Berger, a warning embodied by the album’s last track which imagines the future soundscape of the Morteratsch Valley stripped of its glacier. The elaborate language that once inhabited this land is now gone. In its place the air is filled by bird songs, insect stridulations, and airplane motors, all foreshadowing the possible heat that awaits the Alps.    

“Without climate protection, it is likely that Ludwig Berger’s recordings will outlive alpine glaciers”, warns the film in its last shot, showing the valley overtaken by greenery. It is not exaggerated. The ice carried the planet’s history for millennia yet it is disappearing at an alarming rate. As a response, the album invites listeners to relate to the glacier as a body, filled with life, here gently auscultated by Berger’s hydrophones. With "crying glacier" and its intrinsic more-than-human collaborative nature, Ludwig Berger amplifies the Morteratsch Glacier’s voice to emphasize its personhood, and other glaciers' urgent need for recognition and preservation. 

ludwig berger & vadret da morteratsch — crying glacier [fom15]

October's live recording for Melantónia comes straight from the island of Korčula, Croatia. Manja Ristić born in Belgrade in 1979, is a violinist, sound artist, published poet, curator and researcher.  Manja’s sound related research beside contemporary performance in the field of instrumental electro–acoustics, is focused on interdisciplinary approach to a sound and field recording as well as experimental radio arts. Works and lives on the island of Korčula, Croatia.

SC: https://soundcloud.com/manja-ristic 
WEB: http://manjaristic.blogspot.com/      
BC: https://manjaristic.bandcamp.com/

Artwork by Pablo Diserens.

Mastered by Mattia Onori.

Melantónia live set 016 - Manja Ristic

@pablodiserens is an artist, field recordist, composer, filmmaker and photographer based in Berlin (Germany) who engages with various topo- and phonographies with a wide range of visual and sonic recording techniques. 

✱ What is the inspiration and vision behind your music as Pablo Diserens?
My work is sparked by the world’s biomes and the non-human manifestations they shelter. With attentive and deep listening at the forefront of my practice, I navigate through environments mainly all ears and collect sounds through a plethora of recording techniques. I work with and share these sonic encounters with the aim of shifting people’s perspective and relationship with their surroundings and their neighbouring bio— and geologies. In other words, my work is an attempt at questioning and rethinking our place and caring for the globe’s habitats and communities.

✱What are some of your utopian dreams & musings?
My ideal utopia is one where interspecies kinship, caring and understanding are honoured. One where language isn’t only thought of as articulated speech, but instead understood as the numerous forms of communication, expression, and knowledge sharing that exist in the world’s ecologies. One where we listen to what moss, mollusks, insects, ice, and stones have to say. One where we pay attention. One where this language is punctuated and vitalized by possible hums.

✱ Can you share a little bit about what you’ve included in this mix?
In response to the dreamed utopia mentioned above, I’ve intertwined various animal, plant, and geological sonic manifestations with dronesque and electroacoustic gestures. Human speech makes a few appearances but either in honour of the stones or as purely deconstructed acoustic matter. It is animals, plants, and water that talk the most in this mix.

✱ Any forthcoming happenings for you in 2022 you'd like to share?
There are some exciting projects coming up this year. Some of them involve releases of electroacoustic pieces on A.V.A. and my label forms of minutiae, warm collaborations with loved ones, and if everything goes well the finalisation of my first short film since 2016.

Our Tomorrow w/ Pablo Diserens (Berlin)

Published on @audiovisualsatmosphere [cassette / digital - 2022]

Originally conceived and shown as a sound installation, "dusk — dawn" invites the audience to listen to a city from dusk to dawn by embodying a figure who wanders from one acoustic encounter to another. What happens to the urban soundscape once its human population is asleep? Putting the emphasis on the little heard sounds of a city, this field recording composition allows listeners to dive in buildings’ drafts, bats’ calls, empty train stations’ ultrasounds, singing escalators, talking swans, humming electrical junction boxes, and
birds’ dawn choruses. Documentary at times, surreal at others, the piece proposes an electroacoustic excursion by mixing and processing a set of sounds recorded at night in the city of Berlin during the lockdown and curfew period of spring 2021.

Recorded and composed by Pablo Diserens
in Berlin, Germany — June 2021

Recorded with Sound Devices MixPre-6 II, Sony PCM-D100, LOM's Usi Pro, and LOM's Geofón

Mastered by Adam Badí Donoval

Pablo Diserens – dusk — dawn [AVA99]

https://www.nts.live/shows/post-geography/episodes/post-geography-24th-march-2022

SVETLANA MARAŠ - VI
BEKØ - ne felejts
KATARINA GRYVUL - Rozpad
JUNG DJ - Bitcoin
ENDLESSWATERS無限の海  - Warmsand暑い砂
ECO FUTURISM CORPORATION - N-ый мистер
NUEEN - Path Ft Gerard Sun
TIME WHARP - Ingenue
RHUCLE  - Mainspring
SLOWFOAM & PABLO DISERENS - Ice On Ice
YOLABMI  - VIII
SLOWFOAM & NEILLL - Unreleased
SELENE - Selene’s Secret Garden
Z N O - Cybloom
OTHER JOE - Interior Music 08
YOU’LL NEVER GET TO HEAVEN - Dust
PENT - Annular Proto Sep
PHILIP JECK  - Chime, Chime
ANDREW PEKLER - Los Jardines

@postgeography w/ Slowfoam aired March 24, 2022

Post-Geography w/ Slowfoam on NTS

@weich-berlin 7th Edition
collaboratively organized by @willis-anne and @anepicdope
at Kwia Berlin ~

Slowfoam at Weich X Lan 31.03.2022

Sally Decker & Briana Marela - You are here now
Pablo Diserens - live at Kwia 
lipsticism - every wave belongs 
doun - hidden mass ft. taupe set xl
Sally Decker & Briana Marela - Light initiated from the center
TIBSLC - IMG_9114
Fortresses - Eve
Ellis Latham-Brown - Interlaken Park 2
Marine Drouan - Side B - Windy Night at the Harbour
JQ - No Answer 
Kensho Nakamara - Kaii
E. Varius - Up In Toby’s Room
Taranoya - grief 
Neilll - Excogitation  
DB Looper - Skinwalker (Ft. Galaxy Express 555)
Slowfoam - Sundews
Pablo Diserens - Barbiano (IT), 04/25/2022, 6.32 pm
Sebastiano Carghini - Emotional Part
A Psychic Yes - cloud 1
Huerco S. - Plonk X (submitted by Miles Fortune)
Sally Decker & Briana Marela - Where you land
Privacy Settings - Starburst At The Zoo, June 1992 
Thom Lucero - The Trees
Mitch Stahlmann - Comet Jo

Our Tomorrow w/ Slowfoam & Friends

> my contribution to Nick Malkin's Post-Geography show on NTS ~ aired on December 1, 2022
www.nts.live/shows/post-geography/episodes/post-geography-2nd-december-2022

> tracklist:

mélia roger & grégoire chauvot - laughing frogs
pablo diserens - bombina bombina (lusatia, germany - 2021)
diane barbé - but would you eat one
nikki sheth - paddabolela
francesco fonassi & marta salogni - boa
alexandra spence - a veil
pablo diserens - sea urchins (gulf of corinth, greece - 2019/21)
jana winderen - spring bloom in the marginal ice zone (monitor mix)
artificial memory trace - organfish - electric fish songs from the amazon
aaron cupples - the understorey
yannick dauby - tsi̍t lâu tsuí 一​流​水 - penghu experimental sound studio vol. 1 (side b)
yannick dauby - the little flowers of home
pablo diserens - dusk — dawn
alyssa moxley - night smoke over the caldera
philip samartzis & eugene ughetti - katabatic wind pt. 1
rasmus östling - sarmi
emmanuel mieville - the eiffel bridge to viana
slowfoam & neilll - cyberpoetics
slowfoam & pablo diserens - jacket jam 
gonçalo f. cardoso - danum valley & canopy walks
hideki umezawa - dokkyaku
arve henriksen - groundswell
yannick dauby - tsi̍t lâu tsuí 一​流​水 - penghu experimental sound studio vol. 1 (side b)

𓆏

Post-Geography w/ Pablo Diserens on NTS

CS/DL : f-o-m.bandcamp.com/album/upstream-ensemble

@forms-of-minutiae and TBA21–Academy present "upstream ensemble", a communal happening and aqueous sound piece initiated and composed by field recordist, artist, and f–o–m co-founder Pablo Diserens (@pablodiserens)

During the 2022/23 digital residency hosted by TBA21–Academy’s Ocean-Archive.org, Pablo Diserens launched an open call inviting members of its online platform ocean comm/uni/ty (and external enthusiasts) to venture into the world and record aqueous sonic encounters. The aim of this collective liquid attuning was to gather sound recordings from various wet ecologies while stimulating listening and field recording gestures regardless of any previous experience.

Recordings from 35 contributors were woven into the long-form sound composition "upstream ensemble" which navigates between the multiplicity of the water cycle as a sounding body. The work moves upstream through oceans, rivers, pipe networks, ponds, and glaciers while investigating the continuous flow of water and the environments that surround it. Listeners encounter drifting habitats trickling with the songs of sea lions, dolphins, blue whales, humpback whales, Arctic terns, and algae photosynthesis – as well as with the invasive hums of submarines’ sonars, boats, and naval industries. With "upstream ensemble" some of the world’s aqueous fauna, flora, geologies, and technologies mingle into a synchronized motion that documents the sonic articulations of these wet zones.

In resonance with Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening practice and inspired by Rachel Carson’s exploration of the intertidal zone in her book "The Edge of the Sea", this project contributes to an ever-expanding list of works that propose a focus on listening as a way of engaging and existing with the planet’s waters. By stimulating shared listening and attuning practices, Pablo Diserens aims to develop a sense of interconnectedness by blurring the boundaries between species as well as environments. Experiencing aqueous biomes both individually and collectively acts as a way of rethinking our relationships with the world. Despite these being mostly solitary experiences, Pablo believes that field recording and listening are communal and environmental practices that form gateways for earthly synchronicity and world mapping in time and space. Thus listening in turn can become a political act that sparks emotional bonds with the world and its biotic communities.

˜

concept: Pablo Diserens and Fiona Middleton (TBA21–Academy)

composition and mixing: Pablo Diserens

with sound contributions by: Alëna Korolëva, Alexandros Maragkoudakis, Bence Kovács-Vajda, Christopher Dean, Cyane Findji, Damian Pace, Elise Rigot, Eliza Collin, Fiona Middleton, Francesco Previtali, Ilù Seydoux, Irene Mansoldo, Isabel Val, Jakob Köchert, Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, Joana Moher, Katy Lewis Hood, Kosmas Phan Dinh, Kseniya Lushnikova, Leo Maassen, Ludwig Berger, Mat Eric Hart, Mathias Arrignon, Matty Yeomans, Mélia Roger, Moritz Zeisner, Nikos Sotirelis, Nina Blume, Ocean Networks Canada, Pablo Diserens, Sem Zeeman, Slavek Kwi, Surrealich, Thibault Noirot, Varoujan Cheterian.

all profit of the release will be donated to the Blue Marine Foundation.

listening with good speakers or headphones is recommended as the piece features a large range of frequencies (notably blue whales' subsonic calls).

cassette mastering by Mathieu Bonnafous

graphic design by Cecilia Murgia

cassettes pictures by Camille Blake

duration: 30’29’’ — C60
piece repeats on both sides — limited edition of 100
published by forms of minutiae & TBA21–Academy — fom09 — 2023

special thanks to all the contributors, Fiona Middleton, Markus Reymann, Michal Kucerak, Petra Linhartova, TBA21, Madelyn Byrd, Diane Barbé, Lou Croff Blake, Thom Lucero, and Mélia Roger.

cassette & digital

pablo diserens & the ocean comm/uni/ty — upstream ensemble [fom09]

"waterlilies in fontiform" [framework editions, 2023] 🪷

Such an honor to be part of framework radio’s seasonal issues with a new piece of fontiform music! 

> listen/download: frameworkeditions.bandcamp.com/album/framework-seasonal-issue-14-summer-2023

Thought as a continuation of the work "for scarpa's fountains” [forms of minutiae, 2020], the composition "waterlilies in fontiform" weaves field recordings made in, on, and around the Tomba Brion in San Vito d'Altivole. Designed by the Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa in the 70s, this burial ground materializes as a garden guided by a multitude of lines made of concrete, metal, marble, and glass. Yet as one wanders in this peculiar landscape, one soon realizes that concrete isn’t the tomb’s primary material, water is. As if submerged, the graves are encircled by basins interconnected by a network of fountains, rivulets, and pipes. Water striders, sporadic frogs, vibrant fish and tapestries of waterlilies glide over sunken pyramidal stepped edges, echoing ruins of bygone architectures. An aqueous rhizome at the heart of the garden which steers us through the whole sanctuary. The composition brings listeners into the various materialities of the space and the underwater hums of the fontiform network's machinery. Moreover, subtle algae photosynthesis, muffled voices of human visitors, and the garden's avian inhabitants infuse with life the architect's carefully organized matter. Ambiguous feelings arise as if perched in equilibrium on the crests of the tomb's multifarious structures. The piece ends with openings (both geographical and temporal) as the uncanny murmurs of the flowing waters are joined by the drones of another (temporary) Venetian fountain, Claire Tabouret's sculpture "Deux Baigneuses'', before fading into the vespertine soundscape of a small Portuguese village. A midwife toad calls in the darkness, bells resound in a valley, as Brion Tomb’s architectonic specter lingers in the flowing waters.

> Note: Tomba Brion is also the resting place of Scarpa himself, who shared that "the place for the dead is a garden".

> Recorded in the Tomba Brion in Altivole (april 2022), Palazzo Cavanis in Venice (april 2022), and in Peneda-Gerês National Park (may 2023).
Recorded with Aquarian H2a-XLR hydrophone, LOM Uši Pro, LOM Geofón, SoundDevices MixPre-6 II, Sony PCM-D100.

download

waterlilies in fontiform [framework editions]

CD/DL : f-o-m.bandcamp.com/album/arctic-summer

2025 was declared the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation by the United Nations, accompanied by the proclamation of March 21st of each year as the World Day for Glaciers starting this year. As they put it, "this is an opportunity to raise global awareness about the critical role of glaciers, snow and ice in the climate system and the hydrological cycle, and the economic, social and environmental impacts of the impending changes in the Earth’s cryosphere." To celebrate this decision forms of minutiae presents a series of albums dedicated to glaciers and the acoustic multiplicity of the ice with field recording works by Marc Namblard, Ludwig Berger, Yoichi Kamimura, Cheryl E. Leonard, and Pablo Diserens.

Sprinkled throughout the year, the series launches on World Day of Glaciers with the album "arctic summer", a journey across the sonic ecologies of Iceland and Svalbard, by field recordist and nature guide Marc Namblard.

"arctic summer" and its 12 tracks form a long continuous piece which unfolds in a documentary fashion. Here, Namblard’s pristine recordings invite listeners into the unique estival effervescence of the two polar islands. Scenes follow one another in a delicate but bustling volcanic, animal, and glacial tapestry, whose dimensions materializes through the artist’s play on perspective and space. This meticulous sonic imbrication enables us to eavesdrop both on the vastness and the minute of the cryosphere and the life it fosters. Birds and mammals cadence the album with distinct acoustic behaviors. The air is filled with puffin wing flutters, arctic tern shrills, golden plover sharp pings, kittiwake nasal cries, and the uncanny winnowing sound of common spines. Below, an arctic fox calls in the twilight, a whale spouts off the coast, and walruses growl, grunt, and exhale like washed up steaming engines. Yet these animal voices aren’t sounding alone. They are enveloped by the voices of geologies. Pebble-laden tides lead us to the beating volcanic heart that lies beneath the ground. Geothermal mud pools bubble in viscous drummings, while sulphur vents whistle in perpetual sighs. There are whispers in the slurry. The scorched soil swells. The Earth sizzles. Geyser! This scalding soundscape gradually evaporates into the heat of summer, bringing about the melting of the ice. In doing so, the ice shares a splendid variety both in form and sound. Glaciers crash in thundering calvings, icebergs drift in fizzling growls, while the moraine trickles in curtains of drops. The landscape thaws and leaks. The glaciers thin. The Earth oozes.

This melting pot of arctic bioacoustics weaves into an imaginary sound walk across the tundra, making Namblard’s profound affection for the environment palpable. His uncompromising compositional delicacy is an invitation to listen to the cryosphere in order to better understand and nurture it. Echoing a cinema for the ears, “arctic summer” thus appears as a time capsule that maps the fragile soundscapes and ecosystems of Iceland and Svalbard, as they face the threats of climate change.

marc namblard — hot springs

LP & digital

ludwig berger & vadret da morteratsch — on a different scale

ludwig berger & vadret da morteratsch — the more alive he seems, the more he is dying

ludwig berger & vadret da morteratsch — a form of language

ludwig berger & vadret da morteratsch — someone, not something

ludwig berger & vadret da morteratsch — hundreds, thousands of years old

https://f-o-m.bandcamp.com

publishing platform for sonic ecologies and experimental music.

artists are invited to produce sound topographies that point to specific (or imagined) environments.

co-runned & curated by @pablodiserens & @mathieu-bonnafous

> demos: we encourage submissions by women, trans, non-binary and BIPOC artists.

ludwig berger & vadret da morteratsch — the more alive he seems, the more he is dying

forms of minutiae

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