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
Featured in the The Best Field Recordings on Bandcamp, May 2023:
The idea behind Presque Tout is simple: open your window and record; no editing allowed. Despite the straightforward brief, the French label has gathered some fascinating sounds from some of the world’s top field recordists. Tape Series 006 is its latest release and features Mélia Roger and Grégoire Chauvot capturing a summer rainstorm on side A and New Year’s Eve fireworks on side B. Other artists in their May batch, which puts the label at over 100 releases total, include Jana Winderen (who records maple seeds falling into snow) and Pablo Diserens (recording toads and frogs from a tantalizingly secret location). Over the past four years, Presque Tout has given us privileged access to the sounds that inform other people’s lives, but just as importantly, they also invite us to open up our windows and just listen. — Matthew Blackwell for Bandcamp Daily
︎
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.