The wind is strong today
2012 – 2025
Matilde Meireles
Release (CD) – compilation by Variz (coming soon)
In 2012, I spent six months exploring a section of the River Lagan towpath in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I focussed on recording the inner architectures of the Phragmites australis (common reed). With interdependence in mind, I used two contact microphones to sense how different changes in atmospheric phenomena such as humidity, wind and rain, along with the natural changes in the structural integrity of the reeds, contributed to the emergence of different sonic textures. The shift in scale and listening through the materiality of these seemingly small elements of the landscape revealed the rich, wide and ever-changing range of textures, timbres and dynamic movements that would otherwise be impossible to perceive in such detail with the naked ear alone.
Building on this initial exploration, I returned to the same site in April 2018 to record the reeds once more, but this time with multiple contact microphones. This expanded setup revealed something crucial about the recording process: wind and its 'interference' is something that many field recordists go to great lengths to avoid, but in this case, without the presence of the wind it would not have been possible to sense such a wide range of textural nuances. Triggered by the wind, the reeds swayed in a kind of predictable and familiar motion. Thinking about how else to acknowledge the wind to complement these recordings, I used a small hand-held recorder with built-in microphones and recorded moments of intense wind gusts. I deliberately removed the wind protection to embrace and record the ‘interference’ caused by the wind, which I later manipulated in post-production. In December 2024, I revisited these recordings to compose The Wind is Strong Today.
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