Sounding the Intertidal Thames

Allhallows-on-Sea, Hoo Peninsula, Kent

The Rising Tide, Kent, 7:53 Set within the spring soundscape of the Hoo Peninsula in Kent, where industrial activity meets the powerful waters of the estuary, The Rising Tide imagines a gradual descent beneath the water’s surface. Metallic impacts reverberate through the water as the calls of gulls and other seabirds become increasingly distorted and distant. The composition builds a sense of disorientation and impending drowning, evoking the unsettling prospect of a landscape gradually submerged by rising sea levels.

Wetlands in Barnes, West London

Resurgence, Wetlands in Barnes, 10:17 Set within the late-summer wetlands of Barnes in west London, Resurgence layers and transforms recordings of reedbed birds, frogs and water from low to high tide. Distorted aircraft drones and frog calls create a growing sense of unease, as if warning of something about to happen. The sound of planes approaching Heathrow becomes increasingly intrusive. As water surges, the mechanical presence is gradually overwhelmed. The composition closes with vibrations recorded from within a tree, bringing an otherwise inaudible presence to the foreground. As the rising tide sweeps away the noise of human activity, other forms of life can finally be heard.

Under Tension, South Bank & St Katharine Docks, 11:13

Set along the urban Thames in Central London, Under Tension begins with the sounds of wind whistling through sailboat rigging, footsteps and human voices crossing Embankment Bridge and the bells of Southwark Cathedral. As the wind intensifies, metal structures rattle and resonate, while rain gradually enters the soundscape. Distorted vibrations carried through the city’s infrastructure produce increasingly eerie, unfamiliar sounds, suggesting that something is about to happen. As the tide rises, water gradually overwhelms the sounds of human activity. The familiar acoustic identity of the city dissolves, until only the underwater world remains. The composition imagines a speculative future in which the built environment along London’s tidal Thames has disappeared beneath the water.