Audio Obscura - Acid Field Recordings In Dub (2024)

Audionaut sound adventurer Neil Stringfellow (aka Audio Obscura) makes a welcome return to Subexotic with his many-splendoured mixed media project Acid Field Recordings In Dub.

Following years of avid field recording, Neil explains how it came about through a series of epiphanies:

"The seeds for this album started when I did a field recording introduction weekend workshop with the legend that is Chris Watson (the BBC wildlife team and ex- Cabaret Voltaire ).. just in terms of meeting very inspirational like minded people.

I've been sound recording for about 12 years now and have a good archive of sounds.. and simply enjoy just listening and capturing the audio world. Over the years I've learned to really listen to the everyday soundscapes and as such I no longer walk down the street listening to a personal stereo, the world can often be more exciting than music.

A few memories of listening stick out, which really helped form this album.

I was walking up a hill in Norwich and a street cleaner was coming down pushing his cart, the broom attached to the cart at one end was bouncing up and down in the exact way a snare on a Dub reggae record might sound with the dub echo effect.. it was amazing and I stopped and stood still and just savoured the moment but of course didn't have a microphone with me!

Another time recording the dawn chorus in Lowestoft the chirping birds sounded intense coming from different trees and walking between the trees seemed to make the classic 303 acid squelch sound.. part of this is in the middle section of the Babyloniacid track.

Another time, recording in a forest after a storm sitting under thick trees trying to keep the mics dry and the wind blowing the tops of the trees was like a swooshing synth line. I always liked the moments when the soundscapes felt like music and over time had a desire to try and blend music and field sounds together in a different way.

Things really came together when in summer 2022 I had a minor operation and was resting in bed after the operation, high on painkillers feeling quite spaced out. It was in the middle of a heat wave, the ward nurses had opened the windows, it was evening and I could see pink clouds but the sunset was out out view. I could hear birds roosting for the night. I'd been listening to the Eno / Harmonia album and after that ended I put on some Burial.

As I lay, looking out the window the title Acid Field Recordings In Dub just came into my head... I could hear how the concept should be: field recordings, manipulating them and creating ambient soundscapes... minimal dubby beats, fractured in places and snatches of the acid 303.

This is more or less what I wrote down and for a few weeks the idea bubbled in my head until I started to create it... the process came easy and at first I thought I'd need to spend some time making new field recordings, but to be honest I had such an archive I pulled most of the sounds from that."