possibly the quietest recording so far on this blog—the “silence” of our garden at 3.45am. if you listen carefully, you might just hear the sounds of snails munching on the garden’s vegetation!

soundfile [26.2MB]

bradford centenary square, 5.27pm. a huge crowd had gathered to watch the england vs trinidad & tobago world cup football match on the big screen in the square. [not the most relaxing of situations, or the quietest!]

soundfile [9.8MB]

leeds city art gallery, around closing time. preparations were being made for what was apparently some sort of after-hours business presentation. a nicely hectic moment in a usually very calm space.

soundfile [14.6MB]

in the underground deer shelter at the yorkshire sculpture park, bretton hall, near wakefield, visiting an installation by “light-artist” james turrel.

the installation was beautiful transcendent stuff, but i was fascinated by an aspect probably unintended by mr turrel—ie the soundscape [as you’d imagine, maybe]. the shape of the interior of the deer shelter [square, with walls which slope inwards towards the bottom] and the hard materials of which it is built, make for extremely reverberant acoustics, where all sound is very interestingly transformed, so even the crows flying overhead [heard through a hole in the roof, through which a section of sky is revealed] end up sounding electronically treated.

soundfile [17MB]

9.50pm in the café at south square centre, thornton, after an event entitled “no fun intended: a complete waste of an evening”—a performance by poet, humourist & resident of chiavenna, northern italy, ray ball.

soundfile [6.1MB]

centenary square, bradford, in peaceful early summer, early evening mood.

a wide variety of human life gently going on here.

soundfile [23.2MB]

in the queue in the newsagents at leeds bus station, waiting to buy a bounty bar.

stereo shop assistants bravely & efficiently wading through an endless stream of customers.

soundfile [6.5MB]

more sounds of birds in captivity, this time in the outdoor aviary at cliffe castle, keighley.

i was totally captivated by the sad, mournful sounds of the diamond doves, contrasting so sharply with the mad exuberance of the canaries & budgies.

soundfile [3.8MB]

early sunday morning, back in thornton cemetery—this time at the west end of the long, straight, grave-lined avenue known as “the prom”.

thornton cemetery is more park than cemetery, and the prom is one of the few areas containing graves. i was thinking i’d be the only [living] human being around so early in the morning, but i was mistaken.

i love the way the hard tarmac surface subtly transforms the acoustics here.

soundfile [10.8MB]

a lovely sunny day and the first cricket of the season—a “ladies” match—at thornton hilltop cricket club.

the women’s game seems to have quite a different atmosphere from that of the traditional male version. a different way of displaying cameraderie, mainly. reminds me in some ways of the girls’ hockey games i used to see at school.

but, of course, nothing changes the classic sound of “leather on willow”, or the gentle ambience of english sunday cricket.

soundfile [9.8MB]