We will hear humpback whales singing, sperm whales clicking, weddell seals courting, coral reefs spluttering, bucktoothed parrot fish crunching, an oyster toad fish grunting, shrimp snapping, long horned sculpins honking, blue whales lamenting and haddock drumming. The music from Cosmo Sheldrake’s upcoming EP “Wild Wet World” is composed entirely out of recordings of these animals and the sound worlds that they inhabit.
Acoustic enrichment of ecosystems
The seven tracks featured on the EP are extraordinary compositions that seek to immerse the listener in the sophisticated soundscapes of the ocean. Many marine creatures rely on sound to communicate. Exciting new discoveries by the marine biologist Steve Simpson suggest that playing the sound of healthy coral reefs to dying reefs can help tempt back keystone species and restore health to these complex ecosystems (a technique called ‘acoustic enrichment’). Over the course of the EP, we hear the sound of a coral reef slowly coming back to life, using some of Simpson’s recordings. The EP also features recordings of the last community of orcas on the west coast of Scotland. This group use a unique dialect to communicate with one another, but are destined for extinction owing to chemical contaminants in the waters that they inhabit which prevent them from reproducing. Their language will die with them.
Sheldrake about the EP: “The EP is called “Wild Wet World” an is an homage to the ocean. I have pieced it together slowly over a period of about ten years. As the music is composed with these voices, if feels only appropriate that some of these creatures should also receive song writing credits. So for this project 50% of the publishing income will be distributed among a variety of ocean conservation organisations a list of which you can find below. I am releasing the song “Bathed in Sound” is being as part of Brian Eno’s Earth Percent “The earth as your co-writer” royalty scheme.”
“Wild Wet World” will be released at April 26. pre-order now
