Interview: Jakub Orzęcki

“I try to find places that still carry a bit of this [...] feeling that [...] something might be watching me in the place I try to record, or that I may have some problems with finding my way back from the recording spot. [...] [R]ecording there [gives] a chance to capture this raw energy of nature.”

In this episode of Wind Is the Original Radio, the Earth.fm podcast, site curator Melissa Pons talks with Jakub Orzęcki. An acoustic ecologist and field recording artist based in Wrocław, southwestern Poland, Jakub was nominated for the Sound of the Year Awards in 2022, in the category of Best Natural Sound.

Jakub has made it his mission to highlight the noise pollution increasingly affecting acoustically sensitive areas, and to archive changes occurring in sonic environments. However, as well as exploring Poland’s remote wilderness and underground environments, his work also encompasses the acoustic heritage of the local folklore and traditions which are coming under threat from globalization. With his Polish Soundscapes initiative, Jakub records and assesses the relationship between biophony, geophony, and anthropophony within his homeland’s acoustic environment.

In their conversation, Melissa and Jakub discuss a novel way of thinking about his field recording work: the notion that different recordings have flavors. For Jakub, this relates to the emotions he feels in the place where they are made - maybe a flavor of adventure (for example, in relation to soundscapes “tied to [an effortful] expedition”), or the flavor of being “the first person in a place for a very long time”. There’s even the flavor of preparation and analysis, drawing on “old descriptions of [a] place[,] [...] of settlements that once existed there” and grounded in everything from maps of topography, light pollution, and air traffic to Lidar-based terrain models.

Jakub also describes a more primeval flavor - one that comes from respect for, or even fear of nature, and which “mix[es] [...] fascination and unease”. This sonic flavor reminds us that, for most of human history, natural environments were so much more unpredictable, stronger, and powerful than we were, whether in the form of forests, rivers, mountains, or swamps. Capturing that sensation tells us how “small [we] are compared to what surrounds [us]”.

They also delve into topics including:

• ‘Sonic nostalgia’: a notion prompted by the disparity between the soundscapes of Jakub’s childhood, spent in his mother’s picturesque home village, and those he experienced when returning to the same area as an adult. From a “quite simple and [...] even [...] old-fashioned” way of life that “harmonized with [the] forces of nature in a perfect way”, the “sounds of [the] river where [he] played with [his] cousins [and the] beautiful sounds of the hay fields” had been overtaken by quite different sounds generated from the sand extraction sites that the riverbanks had become, while the forests were filled with industrial noise
• The “hidden critical potential” to field recording, which means it “can be a declaration of [the recordist’s] worldview”, akin to a protest song. Jakub explains how a field recordist is able to provide commentary by “reveal[ing] what is in [a particular] soundscape [...], what's disappearing and how human activity shapes it” - in his case, mainly in relation to awareness of noise pollution, but also on broader issues like migration, pandemics, or women’s rights
• A traditionalist worldview - not politically, but one that embraces “a sensitivity to what's being lost” and an “uneas[iness] about the future”. For Jakub, that manifests as a “longing for sounds that are disappearing”, as well as “a quiet sense of anti-consumerism and anti-globalism”, given the way in which transport, industrialization, and tourism can be detrimental to biophony, geophony, and traditional folk sounds
• Field recording as an act of care for the soundscapes it preserves, which may encourage others to listen more closely to the world around them. But, also, the challenge of finding the time to listen to in the first place - even though slow, intentional deep listening can “sharpen [...] awareness [and] expand [...] [the] imaginations”: ideal responses to challenging times
• Species’ changing behaviors in the face of noise pollution - such as marsh frogs or midwife toads, which are increasingly difficult to hear, year by year; songbirds like blackbirds or nightingales changing the pitch of their calls; or whitetail eagles reacting nervously to loud disturbances
• The need for a healthy balance between natural sounds, human activity, and modern infrastructure - and the difficulty for enabling these elements to coexist, particularly in countries which, like Poland, are developing quickly, and where governments may consider “[...] noise [...] as a part of progress and development [rather] than pollution”. This despite noise being one of the most prevalent forms of pollution, second only to smoke
• The increase of sedatephobia - fear of silence - particularly among younger people, who, brought up as digital natives, with constant access to online content, can be made to feel anxious or stressed by quiet environments. A possible outcome of this “is the urge to dominate a space with noises, [...] [such as with the] engines of cars and motorcycles [...] tun[ed] [...] to sound even louder”. This speaks to the influence that education could have upon healthy sonic environments: schools could introduce eco-acoustic ecology, communities set up quiet paths in green areas, and, in the home, parents “teach [their] children to respect quiet places and be thoughtful about noise”
• Jakub’s experience of living with the neurological condition of hyperacusis, which means that particular noises, such as loud or sharp ones, cause long-lasting pain and discomfort in the ears. Yet, in spite of this being so clearly problematic for a sound recordist, Jakub chooses to be thankful, since it has made him “extremely sensitive to [...] everyday sounds” which he never previously gave any consideration to.

All this and much more, in a dense and fascinating conversation. You can find out more about Jakub’s work on his website. And, until next time, happy listening.