Kate Carr - Midsummer, London [CD]

Format: CD
Catalogue No.: PS012
Barcode: 5057998805846
Release Date: 20 Jun 2024
Genre: Field Recordings / Experimental

Persistence of Sound presents a new album from one of  the world’s leading voices in field recording. 

Kate Carr is known internationally for her work with field  recordings, as well as using objects and experimental  recording techniques. Her work often probes the  ambiguities and perceptions of field recording, notably  on her 2023 album, False Dawn. 

“Most of my work these days is interested in thinking  about field recording as a set of practices which produce  a particular version of a location, experience or even  species, and the relationships and practices which  produce that recording and which also might be  amplified or obscured within the recording itself.” 

Kate previously developed the idea of a sonic transect - a sound sampling along an axis – for an album made on  a Spanish mountain in 2017, From A Wind Turbine To  Vultures (And Back). The idea explores sonic niches, the  ways they flow into each other and can be stitched  together in an attempt to convey the changing aspects of  - in that case - the terrain of a mountain and Kate’s  journey up and down it 

Now, Midsummer, London explores the different accents,  musics, and other sonic phenomenon of London at  locations tracing the river Thames, moving from the  outskirts in the west to the outskirts in the east. 

“Midsummer, London was composed with recordings  taken on the Summer Solstice June 21, 2023, from one  side of the city to the other on the longest of days. The  journey began in Loughborough Junction with stops at  Clapham Junction, Staines, Shepperton, Hampton,  Twickenham, Ravenscourt Park, Blackfriars, Deptford,  Woolwich Dockyard, Slade Green.” 

Tracklist: 
0:00 Sunrise on the 35 bus to Clapham  Junction. 
02:43 Amid waterbirds and joggers,  Staines-upon-Thames 
06:00 Roadworks in Shepperton 
08:51 One piece of cake (a banana cake),  and remembered excavations 
10:35 I met a dog in Hampton who lived on  a boat near a gravel recycling plant. 
13:42 The bins being emptied somewhere  near Twickenham 
15:42 Transit interlude (vibrations obscuring  conversations) 
17:45 A strangely located cafe, echoes of  St Paul's and a drain that drew breath as I  journeyed into Blackfriars. 
19:08 Lunchtime for the office crowd, I like  the sound of swan rescue. 
21:36 Crossing the river: I am getting  hungry and lots of people are talking about  food. Also Jesus loves me. 
24:46 Transit interlude (the Lewisham  station piano) 
26:48 A rather wistful stop for noodles (and  why is someone singing in this food court  anyway?) 
30:08 Trickling thoughts 
33:13 Walking down to the Thames at  Woolwich I banged some guard rails;  thought about a recording of another station  piano. 
39:00 Trying to find the river at Slade  Green; Did that train go to Dartford? 
43:49: It has been the longest of days and I  am going home.