Vatnajokull by Chris Watson is an eighteen minutes piece, created with recordings of
Icelandic glacier that flows into Norwegian sea. It is one of the three tracks from the album Weather Report that has been released in 2003. This album is also the first attempt for Chris Watson to compose using collages of recordings.
The track gradually changes through eighteen minutes. It starts with a drone-like characteristics. First part consists of sounds of a glacier and ice falling down to the water. All those cracks and groaning sound unfamiliar for the human ear a
nd creates rather mysterious feeling. On top of that, there is also some kind of hiss comparable to the detuned atmospheric pad that slowly comes up in the mix. After about eight minutes, singing of the seagulls enters the piece. In the background, there are also recordings of sea, that gives a sense of location to the listener. There are fragments in this part, where the sounds of the birds creates some kind of chorus or delay effect, that makes the use of collages more hearable, but still suits the atmosphere of the whole piece. The last part seems to be more aggressive. Watson layers recordings of waves, birds and wind, what changes a bit the dynamics of the piece. Even though the track is quite long, Watson makes enough of interesting changes, gives a lot of sounds that the listener can engage with.
Chris Watson decided to experiment with layering, cutting and changing order of the original recording. By doing that, he was the one responsible for telling the story. That was quite innovative and could have been controversial, having in mind that a lot of field recording artists claim that we should only listen to the nature. For Watson it was successful step to make, most probably because he have had already a lot of experience in listening and understanding natural soundscape and one of his concerns is to keep the whole ‘body’ of the place where the recording was made.
The field recordings are affecting our minds and ears. Artists are trying to make an impact on our perception of natural sounds. Vatnajokull has been created because of curiosity and amazement with very rare soundscape, that we cannot easily hear. It is hard to believe, that something so natural, makes such an eerie sounds, that some of us tries to create using synthesizers. By giving us ability to listen to Icelandic glacier, Chris Watson delivers different approach to music.
I was very fascinated when I have heard Vatnajokull for the first time. Not only because it sounds for me like an ambient music track, but mainly because it reminds me how little we know about the nature and natural soundscape on Earth. It is not only pleasant, relaxing music for the ear. This piece gives me the motivation to explore and learn more about where we all come from.
Fortunately, more and more people becomes interested in natural world and learning how to understand it. Vatnajokull might have made people think about the Icelandic glacier and global warming, and this is the impact that we need.
Nowadays, the gap between humanity and nature is constantly widening. That is why, it is so important for field recording artists to deliver this kind of sounds to the music world. Field recording genre has a mission to make people more aware of their surroundings, make them stop for a while and introduce different way of listening. Vatnajokull is one of the examples, how interesting and exciting it can be.
Listen: https://chriswatsonreleases.bandcamp.com/track/vatnaj-kull