Resonances - in the depths

"This work is built around and features Paul Lewin’s beautiful recording of Victory Shaft Geevor mine. The more I listen, the more we listen to places and spaces, the more we can hear their history, how these structures inhabit and belong to the landscape they exist within. With its immense depth, the field recording captures the vibrations of the mine, trembling and humming in response to wind. These sounds and frequencies have an extraordinary range and the more I listened and responded to them, the more I heard how empathetic these dark sounds were. As if the walls of the mine shaft were breathing and sighing in response to the wind. My aim was to heighten this experience for the listener. 

"The mine shaft recording immediately reminded me of the sounds we can elicit from inside the cavity of a prepared piano. I used prepared piano samples to heighten the reverberations we hear in the field recording. In effect, to animate the inside walls of the mine shaft with these additional prepared piano sounds. I then incorporated my composition for vibraphone and cello – the vibraphone, a metal instrument evoking the tin mine’s history, and the vibraphone’s watery sounds reminding us of the site’s sea depths, the cello’s frequencies blending with the lower notes of the prepared piano and the mine’s humming vibrations." 

Sampled musicians: 
Prepared piano and vibraphone - Elissa Goodrich
Cello - Caerwen Martin

Geevor mine reimagined by Elissa Goodrich. 

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This sound is part of the Sonic Heritage project, exploring the sounds of the world’s most famous sights.

Find out more and explore the whole project: https://www.citiesandmemory.com/heritage