ENGLISH, LAWRENCE - WHITE OUT (CD & BOOK)

"Even without visiting a place, we often think we know it. It's a syndrome of the modern age. The world is right before us, on screen, summarised and sensorially curated into a particular vision that casts light across 'just so much' of an impression of a place and a time. In some ways, I realised this phenomenon most strongly when I visited Antarctica in the summer of 2010. In my mind's ear (and eye) certain features of that place were front and centre - imagined, as to be real. The stark colour schematic, the full spectrum dynamics of life (and death), the distance from wider humanity and the uniqueness of climate formed a collaged pre-conception of the ice continent. In reality, the lived experience of that place is anything but what I may have expected. Our collective effects on Antarctica are enormous, but our capacity to hold onto some form of existence there is anything but certain. To come back to these recordings now, having been away from those places and times for 15 years, the sounds speak with a new intensity, and a different intonation. It was surprising to hear them as both instantly familiar, but also surprisingly alien - I heard many new events within each recording. To me these recordings capture the duality of a place like Antarctica. They are a seasonal glimpse into the lived experience of the wildlife and humans that persist in this environment. They also reflect upon the objects and things that comprise this place. The recordings catch the uneasy murmurs of eroding ice plates, the trickling conversations of high summer streams, the clicking echolocations of Orcas, the barked disputes of territorial Antarctic Fur Seals, and the chirping of penguin chicks racing to shed their downy coats and find their way to the relative security of the ocean before the winter sets in. They also capture the feverish rush of researchers, military personal, and station workers as they prepare for the long, frigid months ahead during which time they are effectively disconnected from the remainder of the planet." (Lawrence English) Matte laminate, monochrome printed sleeve with custom embossing and insert card. Plus a book featuring photography, artworks and documents collected during the recording of this edition.