Review | By textura
Sound of the Wetlands | Various artists
Curated by Adam Stanovic, Director of the Sound and Music Programme at London’s University of the Arts, and Chilean sound artist Felipe Otondo, Associate Professor at Universidad Austral de Chile and leader of the research project SoundLapse, Sound of the Wetlands is a double-CD compilation (300 copies) of sonic collages created by composers and sound artists from the Valdivia and London regions. Inspired by SoundLapse-based projects made using recordings of the wetlands around Valdivia, staff and students from the Sound and Music Programme ventured to the London Wetlands Centre (LWC) to also collect site recordings of the site and its surrounding areas.
With sixteen pieces stretching across ninety-eight minutes, the presentation is comprehensive and diverse. In addition to producing idiosyncratic responses to the settings, the contributors also became aware of the global decline in wetland environments and of the LWC’s plan to create 100,000 hectares of sustainable wetlands in the United Kingdom. As each participant in the recording project was granted free creative licence, it doesn’t surprise that the results vary dramatically. In one case, the incorporation of beats brands the material as more of an electronica-styled treatment, whereas another gravitates in the direction of goth and dreampop, of all things. Contributions come from the curators, naturally, but many others took part as well. […]