That unseen vibrance. These are dense vibrations, larger than our bodies, larger than our ear drums. They work through us. They present as oceanic. I have a sense of being inside the sound, submerged in another medium, molten, or perhaps growing wings. Of enormous pressure depth yet vibrance shimmer. To dive into the oceanic with our own airborne sounds, feet on the ground, ears underwater. What animal could hear like this? 

The tam-tam has a resonance that seems to grow beyond itself, taking off in swells of full spectrum sound. It is more pushed than struck and here I play it by staying within its own resonant rhythm. In the gong’s swells I hear the waves and so I recorded curling rollers of the Pacific. Like the gong and waves, when I play the harp the sound vibrates through my body, so I placed microphones inside the instrument to capture both its resonance and shimmer. In gong, waves, harp, and particularly in their combination, I experience a sense of entrainment to the sounds. Through them I think I can hear all sounds. You might recognize this place of sustaining? A crossing, an orientation, a migration, asylum. That unseen vibrance.

That Unseen Vibrance

‘Whale (Dundee)’ (2017) is a sound walk where oceanic voices – bowhead and beluga whales, bearded seals and narwhals – speak directly into our ears from arctic waters. They become the agents, the guides, the voices of knowledge beyond our immediate experience. 
Thanks to Kate Stafford for the marine mammal audio recordings. Commissioned by NEoN Digital Arts, premiered on RRS Discovery Dundee.

Whale Dundee 2017

Yolande Harris

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