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(2022) Lawrence English - Viento (2015, Remastered)
Review:
Remixed and remastered for this new edition, ‘Viento’ was originally released in 2015 and is among the best pure field recording albums we’ve heard, capturing the sheer sonic physicality of harsh storms and blizzards in Patagonia and Antarctica. Back in the summer of 2010, the Aussie ambient vet set off for Antarctica after being invited by the Argentine Antarctic Division. It was a trip he describes now as life-altering and offered him the opportunity to record two sonically distinct extreme weather events. On the way to the Antarctic, a short layover turned into several days in Patagonia where was grounded as strong storms blew in unexpectedly. So while the scientists and military personnel he was traveling with sheltered in cabins, English braved the wind and recorded the storm across three days, setting up his equipment in abandoned buildings and fields, and alongside fences and road signs as they were disrupted by the powerful weather. “It wasn’t a comfortable experience,” he admits, and it doesn’t sound like it – across almost 20 minutes we’re subjected to howling whooshes, dense rushing sounds and the crashing and clanging that happens when civilization is pitted against nature. English turns field recording from a relatively passive pursuit into active storytelling here – it’s almost as invigorating to listen to as it no doubt was for him to record. English’s eventual Antarctic excursion was almost as fruitful and just as fraught – here the recordist was caught in two blizzards at the Marambio and Esperanza bases, and during the former the temperature dropped to -40 degrees centigrade. You can’t hear coldness, but knowing this fact makes the listening experience all the more tense. It feels less dramatic than their Patagonian counterparts, but just as texturally rich, and the sense of ice, snow and the windswept tundra gusts in a frozen reminder of John Carpenter’s legendary “The Thing”. — boomkat.com
Track List:
01 - Viento (Patagonia) I
02 - Viento (Patagonia) II
03 - Viento (Patagonia) III
04 - Viento (Patagonia) IV
05 - Viento (Antarctica) I
06 - Viento (Antarctica) II
07 - Viento (Antarctica) III
Media Report:
Genre: ambient, experimental
Country: Australia
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
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