There’s an interesting back-story to this release. The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, which resulted in the grounding of many European flights for a week in April 2010 saw Simon Whetham grounded in Lisbon.
Effectively marooned, Whetham took his sound gear round the city and captured a vast array of material from field recordings. The material left untouched for a while, after which he revisited them and edited them together as a response to the city’s geography – both physical and human – its architecture and ambience, weaving in his own personal feelings from what must have been a strange time that was in effect open-ended and unplanned.
The result is compelling, atmospheric and evocative.
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The first track, ‘Inertia, Rising’ carves out a wide tunnel of ambience some 17 minutes long that creeps and echoes slowly through the drains. ‘Shifting’ is appropriately title: long, undulating drones interweave to form a supple lattice work.
‘Never so Alone’ is a deeply nuanced soundwork that’s sparse yet richly textured and highly evocative. The atmosphere is one of alienation and detachment, the muted sounds are distant as though the city is being heard and observed from afar.
Simon Whetham Online
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