insular regions by john grzinich

Mooste, Estonia is not a likely place to make an obvious appearance on many cartographic or social maps of Europe. It is said to be a "normal" Estonian village, a small rural community that reflects on traditions of past histories and works to shape an identity following the period of Soviet occupation. The local structures vary from a historic pre-WWI Baltic-German farming estate to Soviet era collective farm and housing buildings along with a few traditional wooden houses scattered in-between. Its inhabitants have taken on a great variety of improvised means of survival, everything from regular to odd jobs, mothering to mushrooming. The surrounding terrain is a patchwork of used and unused farmland interspersed with peat bogs and dense pine forests. Rather than being a village proper, it is more a collection of layered settlements. Upon each historical phase a new and different type of settlement came about. Following historical patterns, the time came recently again to "re-settle" the area, to place local history at odds with the current tides of continental trends.

"The doorway to a space of very deep listening: John Grzinich’s ‘insular regions’ is one of the most beautiful drone/field recording combinations I’ve heard in a long time. surely it’s all in the source materials, which are some incredibly sensitive field recordings from Estonia; but more so it’s the way that he’s put the compositions together – every sound has it’s own place. nothing seems to linger for too long, and everything is given it’s breath." Steve Roden

Artist, composer and creator of sonic environments. Exploring the perception of sound and space to find resonance between people and places.

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