1m² by Tomáš Šenkyřík

What wonders can be found within a single square meter? Inspired by George Haskell’s book The Forest Unseen, field recordist Tomáš Šenkyřík decided to limit himself to a meter of wetland near his house, only to discover that the area was so blessed in biodiversity that it might even be too big.
A warbler comments from the weeds; a buzzard flies overhead. But beneath the surface of the water, the real wonders are found. The plants yield the subtle sounds of photosynthesis; the aquatic insects feed, breed, swim and play. 1m² allows the listener to live inside this sonic world for nearly an hour, immersed in an unfamiliar yet alluring biophony.
Immediately one hears the crackle and chirp, the bubble and buzz. Late in the second minute, a familiar conflict emerges: the incredible sound of an insect that imitates Tibetan throat singing, versus the annoyance of a passing vehicle. Even in southern Moravia (Czech Republic), protected wetlands are endangered by human encroachment. In the third minute, a plant or insect seems to be typing underwater as cars pass nearby; perhaps they are keeping a noise pollution blog. Fortunately, the motors do not dominate; we lean in to Šenkyřík’s intimate, discovered world, and away from the harshness of our own.
The sounds are so rich that one nearly neglects the water, always present, rolling and lapping. In the second piece, the water accompanies the sonic striations of submerged life, which sounds like a session of small percussionists: rhythmic, with regular variations. At 4:42, a creature imitates a car alarm; the other microscopic flora and fauna seem to say, “Shut it off,” which it does, begrudgingly, only to reemerge later.
As the plants convert sunlight to energy, they produce a sonic byproduct which fizzes like circuits, or even, at the start of the second side, a tea kettle.
In the second track of Side B, the wetland creatures seem to be hammering and buffing, their tools plugged into an underwater outlet. The temptation to anthropomorphize is impossible to resist.
If 1m² were an electro-acoustic set, it would offer more diversity than most: a wider variety of sound, with greater dynamic contrast, than the best improvising musicians. And while one would need to travel to southern Moravia and locate the artist to be led to this specific stage, such environments are everywhere, teeming with life heard and unheard. Šenkyřík’s gift is to bring these sounds to the surface, opening our ears to the wonders below.
(Richard Allen)

Listening to the ways of being in the world.

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