Cities and Memory - remixing the world

The Abbazia di Praglia is an ancient monastery in Padova, Italy, that's been in existence for more than a thousand years in a stunning location nestled at the foot of the Euganean hills. 

We visit in the early evening, just in time to catch the "vespri" (vespers) evening prayers, sung by the resident monks in the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta. It's a beautiful sound, reverberating around the church and we'd have liked nothing more than the chance to listen to these songs all night, working ourselves into a state of blissful trance. 

The abbey is currently open to bookings for spiritual retreats... perhaps next time we should book ourselves in for a few days of deep listening. 

Recorded by Cities and Memory.

Vespers at the Abbazia Praglia, Italy, reimagined by Cities and Memory. 

"Listening to the vespers being sung so beautifully was a magical moment, and at the time I wished it was possible to just take the songs and loop them into hours-long pieces for deep listening and meditation. 

"Naturally, then, this field recording lent itself to becoming a composition called 'Vespri infiniti'.

"Two small sections of the monks' song were cut into loops, and these loops alternate every two minutes throughout the piece to give some subtle variation to the melodic phrasing.

"The audio from these loops was converted into MIDI, which was then used to provide some string- and vocal-based accompaniment for the second half of the piece, as the monks are in effect performing as their own string accompaniment. 

"The loops are treated with all kinds of reverbs, delays and tape effects, enveloped throughout so the effects unfold gradually and slowly layer on top of one another. From one second to the next, there are no real perceptible changes to the loops, but over twenty minutes they expand, distort and degrade, representing the way my thoughts wandered and digressed beautifully as I locked myself in step with the trancelike songs."

Eiffel Tower structural recording reimagined by Cities and Memory.

"The original recording was fascinating and alien, the sounds of the vibrations through the structure of the tower speaking to an entirely new and different sound world beyond our normal capacity to hear. 

"The reimagined piece expands on and dramatises that hidden sound world, imagining it to be populated by metallic whirs, heavy clunks and the sounds of machinery whose purpose is not known to us. 

"The Eiffel Tower awakes, but no one hears it."

"This recording of the Eiffel Tower in Paris was made using a sensitive geophone originally designed for seismic measurements that has been adjusted for field recording purposes. 

"The geophone was attached directly on to the main structure of the Eiffel Tower in one of the stairwells using a magnetic adapter. Through the geophone we can hear the actual vibrations of the 324 metre iron structure."

Recorded by Colin Hunter.

Gabonese rainforest reimagined by Cities and Memory.

The pulse of the rainforest // a pulse-bed of warm synths.

Hornbills, parrots, turracos // piano parts and arpeggios mimic the place of the birdcalls in the sonic field.

The ceaseless, neverending waves of insects // held sounds underpinning the piece.

A reconstruction of the rainforest through fever. 

Photo by Marco Marques on Unsplash

Turks and Caicos boat ride reimagined by Alan Bleay.

"Transforming the movement of the engine into the movement of notes."

On board a boat crossing the crystal clear waves of Turks & Caicos, recorded by Marcel Gnauk.

Strokkur geyser reimagined by Peter Hodgkinson.

"Having explored the "mechanics" of geysers in Iceland I sought to imagine the interior of a geyser chamber rather than the outward surface dynamics. The piece, using only the original sound file, seeks to delve into the magma chamber and give voice ("Vox" of the title), imagining the forces at play within the interior of the magma chamber and the turbulent interaction of magma heat and water.

"Software/Hardware: MacBook Pro, LogicX, MacPOD-granular synthesis, SoundStudio, Adobe Audition, Native Instruments- Kontakt and Reaktor"

Traffic recorded in Kathmandu by Colin Hunter.

"This recording from October 2008 highlights the intense traffic noise of Kathmandu. This was recorded not far from the Boudha Stupa Buddhist Temple. Nepalese car and truck horns have a very original tonality to them."

Industrial night time sounds from Limassol harbour in Cyprus - cranes beeping, ferry loading and night traffic in the background. Recorded by Marcel Gnauk.