A collection of field recordings available as CD or digital download from Saamleng
Since moving to Estonia 20 years ago, I’ve become fascinated by ice. After walking on the frozen Baltic Sea and hearing loud ‘voices’ from a local lake one still and cold night, these experiences have transformed the way I think about winter and frozen bodies of water. Far from solid static entities, these great frozen planes are alive and behave in ways not unlike the crust of the earth. From subtle shifts to violent eruptions the tectonic-like movements of ice can become dynamic and dramatic sonic events. But witnessing and capturing these events is far from easy. In my experience, it’s all about timing. If you don’t live next to a lake or right on the sea, strategic recording sessions are a challenge. The time of year, wind speed and direction, air temperature and pressure, water currents and salinity and moon cycles are but a few of the factors that influence the character and behaviour of ice formations. Unless one is following these factors closely and happens to live near a body of water, experiencing and capturing dramatic ice occurrences may come down to a rare chance encounter.
In the spring of 2024 I, (or we), got lucky. It had been a good winter (by climate change standards). In March, a sudden warm spell melted the snow and eased up the rigid tension of the frozen lakes. A week of sunny days and clear cold nights sparked good conditions for the ice to shift and deform. I circulated among four lakes in my area for a week including the large lake Peipsi that forms the eastern border. Despite the conditions, it was still hit or miss with both live recording and using overnight drop rigs. The outcome of my explorations has resulted in ‘Ice Tectonics’, a collection of select recordings that reveals what a seasonal transition means for ice and the varied sounds that emerge. Despite hours of recorded material, the experiences are fleeting. Within a few weeks the ice was gone and with it the image of those stark landscapes and feelings of vulnerability and isolation that one may encounter after spending hours listening to ice.
Album review @FELTHAT https://felthatreviews.blogspot.com/2024/11/ice-tectonics-by-john-grzinich.htm
‘Ice tectonics” is an impossibly beautiful album of layers and layers of sound that are created naturally by the sound of ice he has recorded in the southeast Estonia in March this year. It is not only a capture of something unique but also an idea of listening.
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