LUDWIG BERGER

Tree music – Inumaki, Esuzaki (Cassette, Vertical Music 2019)

Tree, wind, contact microphone

Inumaki tree (Podocarpus macrophyllus) recorded with a contact microphone during strong wind in the forest of Esuzaki Island, Wakayama, Japan on June 14, 2018, from 2 to 3 p.m. The unedited and unprocessed recording was reintroduced to the acoustics of the forest.

"The sounds are mournful, like wailing […] Between gusts of wind, brief instances of silence punctuate a tension between anticipation and memory, the spectral and the wood - brilliant hauntological shrub music." (The Wire)
"Near infinite yet utterly microscopic changes abound. A fascinating listen" (Daniel Alexander Hignell-Tully, Toneshift)
"It's a challenging piece but one I found strangely absorbing. Little occurs but something about what I take to be the natural rhythm of the interaction between wind and tree, I found compelling." (Brian Olewnick, Just Outside)
"A lovely piece." (Joseph Sannicandro, A Closer Listen)
"Sounding like a plaintive flute searching for a mate (and in the late going, finding one in a bass clarinet)" (Richard Allen, A Closer Listen)
"These sounds without horizontal dynamics show strange and unexpected folds, almost natural harmonics that are unpredictable and elusive"(Davide Ingrosso, The New Noise, translated from italian)