Cédric Peyronnet: kdi dctb 146 [e]
Gruenrekorder

Issued in a silver case as part of Gruenrekorder's Field Recording Series, kdi dctb 146 [e] is a fifty-five-minute single-track work by sound artist Cédric Peyronnet. Though originally composed as four-channel piece, it's still effective when heard in the recording's standard stereo format. The work in question is the product of three years of sound recording in and around the Taurion river valley in France that allows the listener to vicariously experience the location. Natural sounds appear throughout, starting with an overhead plane, then birds chirps, cricket sounds, and buzzing flies, but—more than anything else—water, with some variations of it surfacing as burbling river sounds, drizzling rain, and crashing waves. During one peaceful interlude, a cow's moo is heard in the distance until a river plunge wipes out any trace of above-surface sounds and replaces it with the aggressive churn of water. Loud and quiet passages alternate, with traffic noise, bird caws, and fire crackle emerging during one particularly evocative section. One could create for oneself a soundwalk from the provided materials, so vivid and plentiful are the sounds presented. In doing so, one could imagine oneself cruising down the river in a little boat, taking in the sights and sounds on the adjoining banks whilst occasionally escaping from the heat with a brief plunge and later bracing oneself for the deluge of an oncoming rainstorm.

January 2011