“This album is an auditory experience full of narratives that make us question the ways of thinking we have created as a human species, opening the doors to a more-than-human perspective.”
Read Enis’ review here.
Cliffs, Vultures & Death Cycles features recordings of various places I have visited in the last 2 years that had impacted me for teaching me about the edgy steepness steps between life and death. Sharing the same location with dozens of griffon vultures and reflecting about their role in the ecosystems they inhabit - and once again I find myself interested in scavengers - has made me face what troubles me about death, about many ways of dying and living.
The presumed harshness of “disappearing” to become “nothing” via some belief systems, made us forget that, by offering our bodies when the time comes, we too should be part of the nutrient cycle, of which vultures, somehow, sit right on a imagined portal. I see them flying over my head majestically and I listen to them cutting through the air, looking for nourishment, protecting their young in the nests, wings flapping loudly enough to be heard from a distance.
This album includes much more than vultures, of course. It’s also about places, difficult for us humans, but where other animals thrive, like the red-billed chough, whose spectacular display and calls made me fall in love instantaneously. These places have astonishing acoustics, a curious characteristic for such hazardous terrain to walk.
I believe this is my best work so far in many forms and I truly hope you too enjoy listening.
My endless and heartfelt thanks to Carmen Rosas Pérez, for the hospitality, generosity, understanding and sharing wonders with me.
credits
released July 3, 2024
All sounds recorded, edited and mixed by Melissa Pons
Cover art by Melissa Pons
license
all rights reserved
Learn more about the album on the first part of this interview with Aslı (Field Recordist, Co-Founder at Vadi Sound).
