CD – 22 Tracks
The purr of a cheetah close up against a baobab tree, waiting. Whales surfacing, breathing in cold air. Coll starling imitate the noise of farm machinery from the hollow ring of a ruined bothy. The rattle of wood over a black stream… Chris Watson’s second CD is a dramatic contrast to the spacious atmospheres of “Stepping into the Dark” (Touch TO:27, 1996). Featuring 22 close-up recordings of animals, birds and insect life, “Outside the Circle of Fire” enlarges our awareness of the sound universe, intimate with voices from the past. There is an intensity here that television pictures cannot conjure.
Akin, IRDIAL:
“An exhilarating journey into nature’s most private sonic ceremonies. Dreamily voyeuristic. Mysterious, perplexing, shocking and beautiful all at once. The Jaguar will destroy you.”
Track list:
1. WAITING
Close up against a baobab tree, a cheetah, waiting… resting by Beobab tree. Pamuzinda, Zimbabwe, June 1994. Sennheiser mkh 416 to Nagra 4s
2. BREATHING IN COLD AIR
Breathing in cold air, Southern Right Whale
3. HORSE OF THE WOODS
Capull coille, ‘horse of the Caledonian woods’
4. SONG
Red rumped tinkerbird song
5. AT DUSK
The Maasai say hippos spend the day on the river bed telling jokes. At dusk they surface, laughing. Hippopotami emerging from the River Mara at dusk Itong Plains, Kenya. Sept. 1994. Sennheiser mkh 0/30* via SQN4s to TCD-D3.
6. WINTER FLAGS
Winter Flags on a spring tide. 20 000 knot find a roost
7. MACHINE NOISE
In the hollow ring of a ruined bothy, a starling mimics the noise of farm machinery
8. CANOPY
Dry topical contact calls follow spider monkeys through the canopy
9. SONG
Lemon rumped tinkerbird song
10. ACROSS THE IRIS BEDS
An evening chorus of corncrakes across the iris beds
11.THREAT
A lioness threatens
12. CRACKING VISCERA
Vultures taste the dry, crackling viscera inside the rib cage of a zebra carcass. Nine birds feeding on a zebra carcass. Itong Plains, Kenya. Sept. 1994. Sony ECM 77’s x 2**, 250m cable via SNQ4s to Sony TCD-D3.
13. DEEP ROAR
The deep roar of a red deer stag
14. UNKNOWN FOREST
Unknown forest duet, singing hidden in tree canopy. Dry tropical rain forest, Nancite, Costa Rica. Feb. 1995. Telinga mic and reflector to Nagra SNN.
15. OUT OF OUR SIGHT
Out of our sight, motionless anticipation, along the dry sandy banks of the Zambesi a mozambique nightjar is sucking in all the remaining light, singing amongst sandy scrub on the banks of the river Zambezi, Zimbabwe.Oct. 1996. Sennheiser mkh 30/60* via SQN4s to PDR1000.
16. LEAF LITTER
Leaf litter insect detail. Rain forest, Cameroon. June 1997. Telinga ‘Science’ capsule at 50cm to PDR1000.
17. SOULS OF DEAD CHILDREN
The souls of dead children are said to pass into kittiwakes
18. FOREST RIDE
Wood pigeon wings across a forest ride
19. SLEEPING IN WARM AIR
Elephants, sleeping in warm air, family group asleep in rough grassland. Maasai Mara, Kenya. Feb. 1996. Sennheiser mkh 30/60* via SQN4s to PDR1000.
20. RATTLE OF WOOD
Deathwatch beetles, the rattle of wood over a black stream
21. MOONLIT FOG
Tawny owls sing in moonlit fog
22. CONTACTS
Hyena contacts, contact whoops, Billashaka Luger, Maasai Mara, Kenya. Feb. 1996. Sennheiser mkh 30/60* via SQN4s to PDR1000.
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