This, is bleak. Wave, weather worn, bleak. Windswept, land end bleak. What we've come for. An exposed area of land that noses out into the North Sea. Its tidal zones are made of bleached dry shells instead of sand. Of saline rotted timbered fences, some sunk waist deep, in time rounded, long shore drifted stones. And of shallow racing waves, blown sideways. This is Shellness, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.
Dazzled at the water's edge by a low, February sun. Blasted by wind. Too much. So about turn and up the beach you go, through ankle deep shells, to look for shelter. A place found, beside the ramped seawall. A squat concrete block. A Second World War pillbox.
Back lent against, and out of the wind. And looking down the coastline at right angles to the rushing waves. At the desolate boundary between land and sea. And slowly, hearing it, as a corridor of emptiness. Nestled within this dim shadow, you can hear how this world is split. to the left, land. Its Swishing grasses. And to the right about a hundred yards, the North Sea. Its constant onshore flow. In time here becomes, not an empty place, but a place where each thing heard, each thing waited for, however slight, is somehow greater, more significant. A sparse few rugged birds. The warm, eventual hum, of a passing propeller plane. And an impression, that the tide might very gradually, be coming in.
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Our grateful thanks go to Ian, who we have connected with on Twitter. He met us off the train and drove us out over an extremely rough track to reach this remote spot. Without Ian, his local knowledge and willingness to sacrifice his car's suspension, we couldn't have made this recording.
141 Soft land murmuring - Wooler, Northumberland
140 Fishing village harbour at night (sleep safe)
139 Old rafters brewing storm
138 Ocean peace above Folkestone beach (sleep safe)
137 Night rains amongst moorland trees (sleep safe)
136 Curling folding breaking waves (high-definition sound and sleep safe)
135 A natural sound report from the Forest of Dean
134 Night waves rolling onto Coldingham Sands (sleep safe)
133 Vivid rain - rolling thunder (very spatial experience with headphones)
132 A bird watcher’s outpost beneath the telegraph wires
131 A thousand years along the Creel Path
Daydream 4 - water rain wind
Daydream 3 - rain water woods (new material coming soon)
Daydream 2 - lazy summer days
Daydream 1 (a series of short August adventures)
130 Dartmoor stream above waterfall gorge - hydrotherapeutic + * sleep safe*
129 Pristine quiet to early dawn (includes woodcock roding calls in full spatial detail)
128 Persistent rain (long, sleep safe, may ease heat fatigue when used in combination with a fan)
127 Mirrored ambiences from a summer meadow at Wrabness
126 The seawall and the night patrolling curlews (quiet, long, sleep safe)
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