constellation of ponds
2023
field recording
listening to Bombina bombina & Hyla arborea
cassette & digital — 30:00
published by Presque Tout
Forgotten among a constellation of ponds, an opening in an abandoned shelter borders a reedbed. Hidden in the greenery, an anuran community sound their annual conjunction. The murmurs of fire-bellied toads (Bombina Bombina) and the croaks of tree frogs (Hyla arborea) interweave into a vespertine tapestry.
This recording was made the day I first heard the gentle music of my beloved fire-bellied toads (Bombina Bombina) - a spellbinding experience that birthed my deep affection for the anuran world. Since then, witnessing this yearly amphibian conjunction as become some sort of annual rite, gently morphing me into a creature of the ponds.
The other side of the cassette features a beautiful recording by field recordist and audio naturalist Marc Namblard.
Special thanks to the frogs that have lent me their voices, and warm thanks to Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy, Nico, Frederic Griesbaum, Diane Barbé, Mélia Roger, Marc Namblard, Mathieu Bonnafous, and Madelyn Byrd (Slowfoam).
Crepuscular listening recommended.
All digital sales on Presque Tout go to Les Soulèvements de la Terre a french organization that fights for ecological causes.
— sounds recorded in lusatia, june 2021
— at the request of biologists: location kept concealed for conservation purposes
— recorded with Sound Devices MixPre-6 II and LOM's Usi Pro
— formats: cassette & digital
— published by Presque Tout — may 2023
︎
a talk about Bombina Bombina
for Mélia Roger’s Chroniques de Terrain at Festival Archipel, 2023 (CH)
> a talk (in French) on the intimate experience of Bombina Bombina listening, and on being earthlings.