Waking early this morning the village of Mooste was presented with a layer of snow. As an Australian living in a sub-tropical climate hearing the stillness that accompanies a frozen winter landscape is always a moment to be treasured.

One of my aims in taking up the residency at MoKS is to record sounds that don’t exist in my own region. A priority on this list is the snapping and popping of ice as it cracks and reforms over the surface of lakes and rivers.

Although the lake neighbouring MoKS isn’t entirely frozen yet it was still possible to record the ice as it moved with the ripples of water caused by gusts of wind. The ice near the shoreline was too solid to lower the hydrophones so instead I cast them out onto the surface where they acted as contact microphones.

As a result the recording isn’t as clean as I’d like it, at times picking up wind and snowflakes as they hit the exposed hydrophones. It was still a good experience and with four weeks here I’m sure the time will come to try again.