Gothic sounds … a field recording of wind, wire and electricity.

Over the past few months I have been spending time in the local hills gathering field recordings for a new work titled The Australian Gothic.

The Australian Gothic attempts to understand the way in which the native soundscape provoked feelings of dread, isolation and entrapment in the minds of the first Europeans to the area in the 1850s. The sounds of the local forest at night unnerved settlers who had migrated from the townships of Britain. Indeed visitors to this region continue to be alarmed by the sounds of bats, possums, owls and other nocturnal animals.

My initial field recordings for The Australian Gothic were gathered during nightly walks in the local swamps and forests. This was because I was only interested in recording sounds that existed at the period of colonisation. However as time progressed I realised that certain electrical sounds connected to local farming add another element to the area’s Gothic potential. The sharp snap of electricity surging along fence-lines is a sound loaded with connotations of danger and containment.

In this field recording a slight wind adds a further ghostly element to the sound of the electric fence.

The Australian Gothic will be released through the Unfathomless label.