Die LP macht hörbar, wie sich das Eis klanglich artikuliert: Es brodelt, platzt, gurgelt, schnarrt, zischt, miaut, berstet. Aus dem Infernalischen des Gletscherrauschens entstehen aquatische Strukturen, die an tierische Laute ebenso wie an synthetische Signale erinnern, oft kaum zuzuordnen und wie elektrifiziert. “Crying Glacier” begreift den Gletscher nicht als Objekt, sondern als eigenständigen Klangkörper, dessen Vokabular nicht nur von geologischen, sondern auch von sozialen und ökologischen Fragen durchdrungen ist. Die letzte Komposition imaginiert, wie es vom Label heißt, eine Zukunft ohne Eis – ein akustisch verarmter Ort, dessen neue Geräuschkulisse eher an Trockenheit und Verkehr erinnert. Damit wird die Dringlichkeit des Gletschererhalts nicht appellativ, sondern durch sorgfältige klangliche Beobachtung vermittelt. Die LP erscheint in einer limitierten Auflage von 200 Exemplaren, daneben ist das Album auch digital erhältlich.

“On a too-hot summer day in the Swiss Jura, Ludwig Berger was listening to bog ponds with an underwater microphone. Below the surface, lay a swarming tapestry of submerged greenery bathing in sunlight. These were the aqueous cradle of oscillations essential to our world. As aquatic plants photosynthesize, they release oxygen bubbles from their stems and leaves. The moment of release creates myriads of extremely short sound pulses, resulting in ever-changing polyrhythms stemming from different parts of the plant. At a particularly high frequency, the pulses become continuous tones. From these sounds, one can deduce if and how strongly the plant is converting CO2 to oxygen. This depends on light and temperature, but is also affected by contaminants, fertilizers or pesticides. The two recordings were made in two different ponds, and in both cases the hydrophone was in close proximity to a common bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris), a carnivorous aquatic plant. While in the first recording the process is left to itself, Berger intervenes in the second by using shadows to regulate the pace of activity. At first accidentally, then intentionally, the interplay of light and shadow triggered the plants to respond with various temporal and tonal shifts.

To emphasize the microscopic processes and polyrhythms of the plants, these recordings were saturated, equalized and dynamically processed. Yet they remain unedited and unchanged in their temporality. Later on, twelve loops were extracted from the recordings to further highlight the percussive nature of these photosynthetic phenomena. These loops are featured as locked grooves on the release’s vinyl format”. (Forms of Minutiae)

@ Ludwig Berger