It’s that time of year when a (no longer) young man’s thoughts turn naturally to the Sonic Structures and Enigmatic Episodes of Shipwreck Radio. Read the introduction to this series here.
JULY 4 - SHIPWRECK RADIO VOLUME TWO
The opening chimes splutter and there is just the barest hint of the customary welcomings, then the song moves into a low grumbling tone. A sliver of a ringing tone lurks below the choppy growling that dominates the track. About four and a half minutes in a disquieting whistling joins the track, breaking through the chop; woeful and piercing. The whistling wails above the low bass rumble of the base of the track, threatening to tear into it two tones, and around seven and a half minutes the song begins to be broken up by infrequent electronic glitches that break the soundscape for just a fraction of a second at a time. Near the nine minute mark, the whistling does finally spit into two shrill tones, a distressing duet gliding above the clangorous base.
At eleven minutes the whistling seems to crack again—almost shredding into a dozen tones before it begins to stutter, less shrieking as it pulses now, the high constant tone broken into a fraying rhythm. The whistling continues to pulse along, broken and fractured, but less screeching until there's another break in the song just before fourteen minutes and then the whistling pulse doubles on itself becoming frantic and fast, reminiscent of violin stabs in a horror soundtrack before it fades away to the end of the song. Easily one of the more difficult listens of the Shipwreck Radio recordings, but no less rewarding for anyone who wants an arresting meditation
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