Composed for the Cities and Memory project, this piece is based around field recordings made from a walk deep into the ancient forests of Yakushima, Japan. 

The project requests field recordings of a particular place, then a reimagined version of those field recordings in any style you wish. In this instance the recordings capture nature and bird calls from the lush subtropical forest alongside the sound of our car tyres beating a path down from the mountainous forest.

For the reimagined piece shards of electronic modulations mimic the bird calls but also convey a sense of the impressive intensity of natural growth and activity in the forest. Lore has it that the Japanese believed the gods lived in this forest - something easy to imagine when you are there. Brooding pads and an otherworldly melody are added in attempt to convey this.  Modern electronics are juxtaposed with the ancient reality of the forest - similar to the sound of the car against the natural forest sounds and a reminder that whilst modernity has encroached upon and destroyed such habitats, the two can also live in side by side.

https://citiesandmemory.com/

"Cities and Memory is a global field recording & sound art project that presents both the present reality of a place, but also its imagined, alternative counterpart – remixing the world, one sound at at time."

Echaskech - Gods of Yakushima

"To comprehend this nebula, it is necessary to abandon traditional financial or political logic; this is not merely a question of nation, political party, or of ordinary economics... Our conclusion would be that at least over the last twenty years, the economic powers, some of which mafia types, have allied themselves with political forces and organized criminal structures, and reached the 4th stage of money laundering, namely, Absolute Power. It has been specified to us that at the present moment these characters control 50% of the world economy."
- Introduction of a Belgian gendarmerie report to a number of senior officials, District of Liege, November 21, 1994.
isgp-studies.com

Echaskech - Gods of Yakushima

VLSI Records