Tracks, Traces and Trails

No strangers to the pages of Design Exchange, Manchester-based aural artists Mandy Wigby and Howard Jacobs have taken part in a new collaborative project, wherein five sonic creators were asked to respond to themes around migration, climate, the nocturnal and the subterranean. 

Commissioned by the Land Lines Project and partners University of Leeds, the project focuses on creative work to encourage conversations around nature, the pair — better known to many as Architects of Rosslyn — unveiled their contribution recently, and the results are spectacular. Comprising a triptych, Natural Rites tells the story of avian migration and the impact of climate change on migratory paths, before presenting ideas for how we can restore nature’s former abundance. 

Focusing on the osprey’s journey south from the UK through Europe and onto Africa, the odyssey unfolds through a mixture of bird songs, including the central protagonist and other species it meets on the long journey south. Human conversations, field recordings and instrumentation are added to the mix, with the final chapter containing excerpts from Why the 2020s need to be the decade for nature’s recovery, a talk delivered by Craig Bennett, CEO of the Wildlife Trust, for Birdfest. 

Messaging aside, one of the most striking aspects of Natural Rites is the processes that made it possible. The past 12 months have taught us plenty about the importance of connectivity, and also just how well-connected we are even when we can’t physically connect. In this instance, no less than 11 individual ‘recordists’ are credited, each having captured the sounds of between one and six species of birds in different parts of the world. Suffice to say, the project would have taken far longer, if indeed it would have been possible at all, a decade or two ago. 

Starring birds include the lesser-spotted woodpecker, Black-tailed godwit, Snipe, Nightingale, Balearic shearwater, and the White-tailed eagle. These noises were then taken by Architects of Rosslyn, who formed what’s best described as part coherent narrative, part immersive sound installation. Bass clarinets, glockenspiels, guitars, synths and more are attributed to specific threats such as glacier contribution to sea levels, logging, and global temperatures. 

With the climate emergency only deepening over the past year while global attention has been firmly fixed on the pandemic, perhaps worryingly in spite of major changes in terms of how we live — not least a significant reduction in travel, and specifically air travel — we believe works like this are now more important than ever in efforts to keep the issue, and nature, in the public eye. Dive into Natural Rites, and once you’re done there we recommend finding out more about Tracks, Traces and Trails here.