Newswise — Musician and field recordist Tom Fisher, who goes by the stage name Action Pyramid, finds magic in the everyday on new album Mardle.
The album is a compelling collection of underwater recordings revealing the sonic 24-hour cycle of Britain’s ponds for the first time. The album will appeal to curious nature lovers and those whose enjoy unwinding to the sounds of natural soundscapes.
Accompanied by detailed liner notes, Mardle is rooted in research conducted by Dr Jack Greenhalgh, an ecologist from the University of Bristol. The discovery of a new and previously unexplored soundscape is described in detail alongside scientific illustrations and high-resolution microscope images.
The album will be released on Tuesday, October 24 and will be available to stream on Spotify, or available for pre-order and purchase here: Mardle: Daily Rhythms of a Pond | Action Pyramid & Jack Greenhalgh | Skupina (bandcamp.com).
The album brings to the surface the diverse sounds of aquatic insect songs and plant photosynthesis - an ecology of otherworldly rhythms and alien hyper-sounds that feel more like early synth experiments than biological processes. The album has three tracks and lasts around 25 minutes.
Dr Greenhalgh said: “It's so exciting - we've discovered the unique rhythms of nocturnal aquatic insect choruses, and the whining and popping of aquatic plants as they photosynthesise like busy submerged factories during the midday sun.”
In doing so, Mardle takes the daily cycle as its compositional cue. Beginning above water, the listener is plunged into a “strange and mysterious” world, peaking in the frenzied, pulsing activity of midday and midnight, before the calm of the early morning rain returns above.
Action Pyramid said: “To actually consider the living presence of plants with direct sonic evidence is quite profound. It's such an evocative way to capture people's attention and highlight these fragile and maligned habitats. There have definitely been moments where I think I can’t believe I'm listening to this.”
In short, Mardle is a perspective-shifting, mind-expanding sonic exploration from the shallows of one the most familiar and overlooked habitats on Earth.
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