Join us for EARTHFEST Warmup :: Scott Sherk | roachtobin [LONG FORM]!

Program Notes
Aural Places by Scott Sherk
Aural Places is a collection of immersive sound works accompanied by video visualizations. These works reflect a sound practice grounded in field recordings— capturing the ambient, often overlooked sounds of the world, and reimagining them into spatial auditory environments. The works range from recorded sounds of a frozen lake in Massachusetts to the melting glacial rivers and north winds of Iceland. The works are not documentaries of landscapes so much as encounters with place. The videos function as anchors, while the multichannel audio environments place the listener inside acoustic spaces that are often hidden, or spatially reimagined.
1. Ice (03:49)
Ice is derived from recordings made on a frozen pond by embedding a microphone physically into the ice. The piece reveals the internal acoustic life of frozen water—cracking, pressure shifts, low resonances, and microscopic movements that are normally inaudible.
2. Floating White Things (12:29)
This work documents the transformation and dispersal of seed pods in early spring. The floating white forms move slowly through air currents while the soundscape captures insects, wind, distant water, and the subtle emergence of spring activity.
3. Storm Coming, Wood Thrush (05:17)
Field recordings of an approaching storm form the sonic foundation of this work, interwoven with the distinctive calls of the wood thrush.
4. South Wind (03:04)
Recorded in northern Iceland, South Wind focuses on wind as a sculptural and acoustic force. The piece emphasizes directionality and movement through spatial sound, allowing the listener to experience wind as a physical presence moving through space rather than simply background noise.

5. Glacial River (06:18)
This piece is derived from recordings made within and along a glacial river. The recordings reveal the internal turbulence, grinding sediment, and low-frequency resonance of fast-moving glacial water as the glacier melts.

6. North Wind (04:15)
Also recorded in northern Iceland, North Wind centers on the harmonic tones produced by a metal fence gate vibrating in strong wind. The wind turns the gate into an aeolian instrument, producing sustained tones and shifting harmonics.
7. Spatial Sound – Ryoanji (05:44)
This work combines recordings of the Atlantic Ocean with a spatial audio structure based on the rock placement in the Ryoanji Zen garden in Kyoto. Sound sources are positioned according to the spatial relationships of the garden stones, translating visual composition into an acoustic one.