https://pablodiserens.studio Pablo Diserens Sat, 03 Apr 2021 23:18:31 +0000 https://pablodiserens.studio en https://pablodiserens.studio/Home Sun, 11 Nov 2018 17:51:48 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/Home out now :album “ebbing ice lines” - 2xLP on forms of minutiae &amp; Dinzu Artefacts https://pablodiserens.studio/on-australian-shores-a-reader Sat, 03 Apr 2021 23:18:31 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/on-australian-shores-a-reader Pablo Diserens on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs released on Sono Space | 2020 01. morning by the river (13’41’’)02. bellbirds of wapengo lake (08’16’’)03. periwinkles (06’30’’)04. following ravens (06’08’’)05. ibis nest (05’27’’)06. dusk drone (05’51’’) <img width="930" height="929" width_o="930" height_o="929" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/968873a7ee41be4605c8e16a56d06ff5865130bfe926ceec9d0424d0bb9410c6/ibis.png" data-mid="104419591" border="0" data-no-zoom="true" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/930/i/968873a7ee41be4605c8e16a56d06ff5865130bfe926ceec9d0424d0bb9410c6/ibis.png" /> https://pablodiserens.studio/morning-by-the-river Thu, 01 Apr 2021 20:00:57 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/morning-by-the-river morning by the river Nattai National Park, Australia - November 2019 on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs by Pablo Diserens Having only been in Australia for two days, I went for my first hike in the rainforest. The bushfires crisis had already been going on for months and it was getting stronger by the day. The forest I ventured in was still safe and untouched by the threatening distant blazes. As I wandered alongside a river, my ears slowly tuned to the wonders of the Austral acoustic marks. I could hear dozens of birds disrupting the forest’ stillness and each of their calls was an entirely new sonic experience for me. After meeting countless eastern water dragons, I found a clear spot on the riverbank and stopped to record the surrounding soundscape. A moment passed when suddenly a flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos began to cry and flutter in unison. Their screeching cheers tor and drowned out the delicate morning ambience for a while. As they gradually settled down, something moved in the bushes next to me. Out of the thick vegetation appeared a two-meter long lace monitor lizard. I was sitting on the ground with my headphones on. Surprised, we gazed at each other for an instant, both gauging the intention of the other. As I remained there perfectly still, the varanid slowly approached and passed right in front of the microphones before continuing its journey - and so did I. A little further on, I hauled myself on an overhanging rock and listened to the river’s underwater sonic ensemble formed by water bugs and amphibians. On my way back, I stumbled on another monitor lizard - I had the feeling it was the same one - and again we acknowledged our presence but this time it was I who gently walked past the reptile while it was lying on the ground. To my surprise, it stood up and kindly followed me for some time before disappearing in the dense greenery. <img width="2433" height="3575" width_o="2433" height_o="3575" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e0a607ac5bba009697d94e4a6a17423eea6ac1b54ac0e9fd5eaf4f215e138c89/01.-morning-by-the-river.jpg" data-mid="104003315" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e0a607ac5bba009697d94e4a6a17423eea6ac1b54ac0e9fd5eaf4f215e138c89/01.-morning-by-the-river.jpg" /> https://pablodiserens.studio/bellbirds-of-wapengo-lake Thu, 01 Apr 2021 21:09:16 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/bellbirds-of-wapengo-lake bellbirds of wapengo lakeWapengo Lake, Australia - November 2019 on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs by Pablo Diserens As I travelled South in Barragga Bay’s surrounding regions, I kept hearing strange pinging sounds in the distance. My curiosity grew as I perceived them repeatedly while never identifying their sources. This unexplained composition charged the soundscape with an uncanny feeling as it echoed in a myriad of valleys. It sounded like crystals singing as they spored out of the forest’s flora - images from René Laloux’s Fantastic Planet came to my mind - had I landed on the Ygam planet? One morning, as I explored the shores and the local oyster farms of Wapengo Lake, I again came across this acoustic phenomenon. Very close this time, its sonic beauty finally unraveled fully. It emanated from a bellbirds colony perched in a patch of trees. The multiple avian sources formed spectacular depth and spatialization, and the swarm of reverberating bell-like calls mirrored minimalist electronic scores from the second half of the 20th century. I stood there with my eyes closed for a while, bewitched by the delicacy and the complexity of the ornithological concerto I was witnessing. <img width="1656" height="2433" width_o="1656" height_o="2433" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9878c163db892f741b617c9fd8d899424d2d429788ed6b74c63a1a5eb70cbb3b/02.-bellbirds.jpg" data-mid="104010678" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9878c163db892f741b617c9fd8d899424d2d429788ed6b74c63a1a5eb70cbb3b/02.-bellbirds.jpg" /> https://pablodiserens.studio/periwinkles Thu, 01 Apr 2021 21:09:21 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/periwinkles periwinklesBarragga Bay, Australia - November 2019 on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs by Pablo Diserens Periwinkles, these tiny black sea snails that form constellations in shallow waters, were some of the main protagonists of my youth by the Mediterranean shores. The ones I faced on the other side of the planet did not bear many differences, perhaps were they even identical - mirrored molluscs from another hemisphere. The tidal pool above which I leaned was a busy one: a plethora of periwinkles were neighboured by crabs, anemones and gigantic sea slugs. I listened to the pool’s bed for a while hoping that it would inhabit a noisy occupant until a peculiar scratching sound emerged. I was wrong - the local sea snails were indeed different than the ones from my childhood: they were the first to speak to me. <img width="2433" height="3575" width_o="2433" height_o="3575" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3c55e5ab75393f0ba5b90a2ae31bfec4a738c7938427457b20bf75d57b0533b8/03.-intertidal-zone.JPG" data-mid="104010869" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3c55e5ab75393f0ba5b90a2ae31bfec4a738c7938427457b20bf75d57b0533b8/03.-intertidal-zone.JPG" /> https://pablodiserens.studio/following-ravens Thu, 01 Apr 2021 21:09:22 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/following-ravens following ravens Sydney, Australia - November 2019 on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs by Pablo Diserens Wherever I travel, I enjoy observing and listening to crows and ravens. These somber creatures have fascinated me for years due to their appearance, unpredictable behaviours, and striking intelligence. They can be found almost everywhere on the globe and, although their physical attributes might vary slightly, it is their voice that undergoes exceptional changes. I noticed that for the first time during my Japanese stay in 2015. There, corvids tend to abandon the “r” resulting in an elegant “coa” sound, whereas European ones will commonly have a more guttural tongue and croak or caw all day long. However, their Australian relatives have one of the most bizarre calls I have ever heard. In a suburb of Sydney, I encountered a pair of ravens scanning a tower block’s vicinity. Both resting on utility poles, they undertook a lengthy dialogue made of descending “aah-aaaah” wails. As I followed them in the streets, a light yellow veil of smoke, originating from remote wildfires, filled the air accompanied by the blackbirds’ unbroken plaintive cries. These seemed to carry a sense of sorrow, as if they were mourning the current state of our planet. They knew that they were being shadowed and would signal my presence to one another with shrill calls. Their distrust reminded me of the Norse myth of Huginn and Muninn - yes, I know that you are spying on our world and, with your lamenting semantics, will whisper to Odin what you have seen and heard. <img width="2433" height="3575" width_o="2433" height_o="3575" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3fcac7f2627a3b9aafee6c9581a83d3f4e24eead1ab8b40129ac68a39990fbaf/04.-following-ravens.JPG" data-mid="104010945" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3fcac7f2627a3b9aafee6c9581a83d3f4e24eead1ab8b40129ac68a39990fbaf/04.-following-ravens.JPG" /> https://pablodiserens.studio/ibis-nest Thu, 01 Apr 2021 21:09:26 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/ibis-nest ibis nest Sydney, Australia - November 2019 on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs by Pablo Diserens African ibises were once worshipped and associated with Thoth, an ancient Egyptian deity often depicted with a man’s body and the head of an ibis. God of wisdom, writing, science, art and the dead, his worship inspired people to embalm thousands of ibises’ corpses in bird-shaped sarcophagi. Today, their Australian sister species is disparagingly referred to as dumpster divers, flying rats, tip turkeys or bin chickens for their habit of scavenging in cities’ trash. I remembered being amazed at first sight by their beauty, but a local friend quickly stained my wonder by telling me that these were merely the native pigeons - “you don’t touch those” he said. Nevertheless, their elegant long beak, walking gestures, black-tipped appendages, and stunning underwing red skin charmed me. As I wandered in Sydney’s Botanical Garden, odd pig-like shouts were made audible. Was there a farm? I tracked them down and discovered a flock of white ibises occupying several trees. On neighbouring branches, a group of rainbow lorikeets chipped collectively. Their calls were regularly obscured by aerial grunts stemming from the canopy - from which white ibises’ heads would peeked out occasionally. The voices of the formerly sacred beasts did not match their grace as they barked energetically at one another with cries that rather suggested the presence of broken kazoos or swine-goose chimaeras. <img width="2433" height="3575" width_o="2433" height_o="3575" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8cef378e7943dfa550943a6ab1624cc4f46f458f7957d3caa5fdfe289d99316b/05.-ibis-nest.JPG" data-mid="104011007" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8cef378e7943dfa550943a6ab1624cc4f46f458f7957d3caa5fdfe289d99316b/05.-ibis-nest.JPG" /> https://pablodiserens.studio/dusk-drone Thu, 01 Apr 2021 21:09:28 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/dusk-drone dusk drone Bega River, Australia - November 2019 on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs by Pablo Diserens As the sun fell below the canopy on my last day in the rainforest, I listened to the sustained chants of one of the world’s loudest insects, the greengrocer cicada. They are known for producing a noise that flirts with our hearing’s threshold of pain, thus causing the sometimes dizzying and deafening feeling one can experience. In the twilight, they pursued their sonic ritual uninterrupted. Two kookaburras, with their emblematic raucous laugh, and other birds would try to compete with the arthropods, in vain. I took that moment to reflect on my Australian journey. Rarely had I encountered such a wide range of species in such a short amount of time. The abundance of those ecosystems’ fauna and flora was remarkable and the local bio- and geophony as unique as their sources. To think that all of that was under imminent threat as towering bushfires multiplied throughout the country was saddening. How disturbing, that we are putting such beauty and diversity at risk because of our anthropological greediness, that the world’s “leaders” would rather prioritize profit over the biosphere, and that humans have cultivated a disastrous apathy and passivity towards current environmental issues. Even now, at the dawn of the Pyrocene - the epoch of fire - humans fail to take real action. The cicadas were still buzzing and little did I know that a month later this catastrophe would worsen, and that the forests I visited along with millions of acres and over a billion animals (without taking insects into count!) would be scorched by the supercharged flames. As a new decade starts, I hope that these scarred landscapes and their voices will help spark awareness and shed light on the current ecological state of our planet while stimulating collective actions against this sinister age of embers. . <img width="2433" height="3575" width_o="2433" height_o="3575" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b0df493708b4917cd68f45c63aa391ce6bad69d8a005ce648e1784866da5149d/06.-dusk-drone.jpg" data-mid="104011035" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b0df493708b4917cd68f45c63aa391ce6bad69d8a005ce648e1784866da5149d/06.-dusk-drone.jpg" /> https://pablodiserens.studio/on-australian-shores-credits Thu, 01 Apr 2021 21:25:13 +0000 Pablo Diserens https://pablodiserens.studio/on-australian-shores-credits Pablo Diserens on australian shores: listening to birds, insects and molluscs Sono Space | 2020 This release pays homage to the wildlife that perished during the Australian bushfire crisis in 2019 and 2020. All proceeds will go towards the emergency animal rescue fund of Humane Society International. Special thanks to the animals that have lent me their voices. Thanks to Warwick Anderson, Lee Primmer, Paul Kildea, Harry Sumner, Eliza Bożek, Mathieu Bonnafous, Nathan Levenson, Jana Winderen, and Corinne Diserens. I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the sovereign owners of the country I travelled in, and recognize that this sovereignty has not been ceded. They remain strong in their enduring connection to land and culture and I pay my respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging. All field recordings, notes, and analogue photographs by Pablo Diserens →&nbsp; recordings and PDF available to download here back to main website&nbsp; ←