Ghostlands by Gwen Sion published on 2021-06-16T13:15:25Z ‘HS2 Ghostlands’ is a multi-disciplinary arts project created in response to the climate emergency and HS2, highlighting issues of deforestation, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. This project is the result of working on location at 18 specific sites over a 5-month period collecting field recordings and conducting extensive research into HS2 and its environmental impact (the permanent destruction of 108 ancient woodlands and wildlife habitats). The final outcome of the project includes a digital archive of recordings in the form of an interactive sound map, a set of musical instruments hand-built by recycling natural materials found at the locations and a newly composed piece of experimental music titled 'Ghostlands'. 'Ghostlands' combines all the environmental audio recordings of the locations with original musical compositions created in response to the spaces using found natural materials as instruments as well as original vocal, multi-instrumental and electronic compositions inspired by reading the shapes, colours, textures and structures found in the visual landscape of the woodland as a musical score. Some melodic elements are also inspired by echoing patterns in birdsong heard at the locations and some phrases are directly translated from the birdsong itself by converting the audio data of recordings into midi data which was then assigned the voice of an acoustic piano. The final musical piece uses a mix of traditional acoustic instruments, electronic instruments, vocals, a variety of hardware devices and my own hand-built instruments. By creating instruments from fragments of the landscape such as fallen branches, the musical compositions are not only framed by the sounds of the woodland in the field recordings but are also made from the sites themselves, literally resonating through the dead wood of these locations. To access the project, explore the sonic archive and interactive sound map, musical composition, photographic documentation of the instruments and locations visit: https://hs2ghostlands.co.uk/ Genre Ambient Comment by Sentient amazing 2021-08-19T14:06:13Z Comment by User 622513754 Phenomenal, deeplymovingThought inspiring and emotional The dorry the HS2 monster brings. This piece of music feels like the soul of nature . Birds and creatures sounding in desperation . Gwen takes us on a journey to this place The natural world ! 2021-07-29T13:12:49Z Comment by encymoverflow Magic! 2021-07-07T10:46:11Z Comment by _C0RNERBOY amazing gwen !! 2021-06-30T19:17:13Z Comment by IndijiUK This is an amazing piece! 2021-06-29T22:51:17Z Comment by Frozen Plates 凍盤 fantastic! 2021-06-16T19:07:50Z