Soundings, by Jason Kahn

Soundings

by Jason Kahn

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of I Smile When the Sound Is Singing Through the Space, Eternal City, All Along the Way, Köln, Soundings, Days Falling, Infinity Suite, Spirits, and 28 more. , and , .

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1.	Josefkirche Bells 00:54	buy track
2.	Langstrasse Pedestrian Underpass 01:25	buy track
3.	Air Raid Sirens 01:17	buy track
4.	Trains 00:40	buy track
5.	Out in the Hall 00:54	buy track
6.	Josefwiese 01:21	buy track
7.	Röntgenplatz 00:59	buy track
8.	Stairway Schütze 00:59	buy track
9.	Verbrennungsanlage 00:53	buy track
10.	Stairwell Voices 00:48	buy track
11.	Waiting for the Teacher (Reprise) 00:48	buy track
12.	Bus Ride With Alice 00:51	buy track
13.	Circus School Presentation 00:54	buy track
14.	Circus School Waiting 00:50	buy track
15.	Friends Corner 00:50	buy track
16.	Tram Ride Limmatplatz to Quellenstrasse 00:50	buy track
17.	Waiting for the Tram on Limmatplatz 00:50	buy track
18.	Entrance Migros Limmatplatz 00:52	buy track
19.	Grocery Shopping Migros Limmatplatz 01:04	buy track
20.	Customer Service Migros Limmatplatz 00:55	buy track
21.	Recycling Bin Migros Limmatplatz 00:46	buy track
22.	Restaurant Migros Limmatplatz 00:54	buy track
23.	Platzspitz With My Kids 00:50	buy track
24.	Walking up the Uetliberg With My Kids 00:56	buy track
25.	Uetliberg Playground 00:55	buy track
26.	The Top of Zürich 00:55	buy track
27.	Zürich Main Train Station 00:55	buy track
28.	Flags in the Wind Quaibrücke 01:04	buy track
29.	Hof on a Windy Night 00:55	buy track
30.	Quellenstrasse Tram Station 00:58	buy track
31.	Tram to Main Station 01:13	buy track
32.	Tram 6 Climbing to Unispital 00:54	buy track
33.	Under Quaibrücke 00:55	buy track
34.	The University of Zürich Main Hall 00:56	buy track
35.	Unispital 00:55	buy track
36.	At Home 00:54	buy track
37.	Recycling 00:54	buy track
38.	Tamil Supermarket 00:55	buy track
39.	African Voices 00:09	buy track
40.	Fountain at Platzspitz 00:55	buy track
41.	Hirschplatz Niederdorf 00:55	buy track
42.	In the Cellar 00:54	buy track
43.	Bicycle Room 00:54	buy track
44.	Corner Kirchgasse / Neustadtgasse 00:54	buy track
45.	Letten Kraftwerk 00:55	buy track
46.	Niederdorf Near Central 01:00	buy track
47.	Outside Bar-Rio 01:00	buy track
48.	Teenagers Walking By 00:28	buy track
49.	Waterfall Platzspitz 01:00	buy track
50.	Grossmünster 01:00	buy track
51.	Zürich Train Station Main Hall 01:00	buy track
52.	Musik Hug Wind Instruments 00:55	buy track
53.	Musik Hug Piano Department 00:57	buy track
54.	Musik Hug Strings Department 00:54	buy track
55.	Skateboarders Under the Kornhausbrücke 00:56	buy track
56.	St. Josef's Kirche Heinrichstrasse 00:59	buy track
57.	Clock Entranceway Limmatstrasse 00:56	buy track
58.	Refrigerator Hum Kitchen 00:55	buy track
59.	Windy Limmatstrasse in the Rain 00:55	buy track
60.	Rain Wind Bells Limmatstrasse Garden 00:54	buy track
61.	Sunday Bells St. Josef's 00:55	buy track
62.	Altersheim Carnival Music 00:55	buy track
63.	Doors Opening in Huge Empty Room 00:54	buy track
64.	People Talking Heavy Footsteps 00:55	buy track
65.	Train Idling 00:55	buy track
66.	Washing Pots and Pans 00:55	buy track
67.	By the Escalators Main Train Station With Singing in Background 00:54	buy track
68.	S-Bahn Arriving 00:54	buy track
69.	S-Bahn Departing 00:45	buy track
70.	Announcement Main Train Station 00:14	buy track
71.	Pedestrian Underpass Main Train Station 00:54	buy track
72.	Pedestrian Underpass S-Bahn Station 00:54	buy track
73.	Röntgenplatz Applause 01:04	buy track
74.	Sailboats at Dock Zürisee 00:55	buy track
75.	Shoreline Wollishofen 00:59	buy track
76.	Waves at Wollishofen 00:55	buy track
77.	Windy Sunday in the Garden 01:07	buy track

about

I wrote the texts in this book as a kind of memorial device to recordings I made in Zürich between February 5 to March 22, 2020. Though not a direct reaction to the Covid pandemic, the transformation of the city due to restrictions of movement in the public space made these recordings only first possible in many ways.

Of course, what immediately became noticeable after the first shutdown of the city occurred was how quiet the normally noisy urban environment had become. It was as though a veil had been lifted between my ears and all the sounds that were normally hidden there. All of a sudden I noticed the birds singing, the sound of a paper wrapper skittering down the sidewalk in the wind, the new-found clarity of church bells ringing near where I lived, how footsteps seemingly exploded over cobblestones or the sound of a fountain, before just a hail of white noise, now resembling more a kaleidoscope of endlessly repeating rhythmic patterns.

I went out and explored the city anew, with microphone in hand and ears wide open. In the midst of so much tragedy, I was able to salvage something positive and also illuminating, regaining a sense for the audible space of a city I'd lived in for the last twenty years but had until now never really experienced at this level of acute detail and presence.

I never intended to do anything with these recordings. They were not made with the purpose in mind of using them as material in some composition or exhibition. It was just my way of dealing with a crisis situation and at the same time salvaging something positive out of all the pain and suffering. The recordings remained on my computer for another year when by chance I came across them again and started to give them a listen. Each recording held a wealth of memories which came rushing back as I listened. I was amazed at how intricate details, things I hadn't given any thought to for the last year, were suddenly there in front of me again, vivid and alive, as if they'd happened just a day or two ago.

I became fascinated with the resonance of my memory and started to write short texts in reaction to each recording, creating a kind of field recording of recollection. Each text draws out what I experienced in sound and feelings from its corresponding recording. There's often an intense focus on sounds but more intriguing I think are how these sounds had an emotional impact on my psychological and spiritual state, often triggering memories from as far back as my childhood. Writing these texts became a journey through a prism of memories, all starting with each of these recordings and sometimes just one singular sound.

The recordings I made are included here on CD to provide a basis of comparison for the reader, though I feel they're by no means necessary. Either the texts or the recordings could stand on their own, but placed side-by-side they provide an interesting juxtaposition for the reader to explore. It's not intended that the text or the recordings be read and listened to at the same time, however there is no prescribed method for experiencing this book. The reader should find their own way through these texts and sounds, just as I found my way through the city, following my ears as I made these recordings and tracing my memories back through time as I wrote the texts.

I hope this book inspires other people to explore their own living spaces and to consider how what they're hearing transports them to other states of mind or times in their lives.

----------------------------------
Langstrasse Pedestrian Underpass

This space
a swirling
vortex
of trains
passing
above
voices out
of nowhere
skaters taking
the ramped wall
while columns
of traffic
pass just
outside
the other wall
plastered with
advertising for
holidays
insurance
anti-fascism
feminism
ways to
save
the planet
ways to
leave
the planet.

If I close
my eyes
it's easy
to disappear
in the hail
of sound
and echo
the feel
of a cool
breeze
as bikes
and scooters
go whizzing by
getting sucked
through
this tube
of rushing
sound.
----------------------------------

The accompanying audio files to the book are included here for download.

credits

released October 20, 2022

Text written February 2021 to April 2022.

All recordings made February 5 to March 22, 2020 in Zürich.

Realized with the generous support of Stadt Zürich Kultur
Covid-Arbeitsstipendium 2022.

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Jason Kahn Zürich, Switzerland

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