Chris Watson & Marcus Davidson - Cross-Pollination

The sun sets over the plains of the Kalahari desert, life begins to emerge after yet another day of searing heat and unremittingly hostile conditions. At first one, then a handful and then a myriad of insect sounds come into focus... the whirs and buzzing templates of an implicate alien order resurrect in the twilight rustling winds which move slowly over the face of the unchanging sands. Chris Watson is one of the BBC's most renowned audio recordists these days but his past is just as regal. One of the founding members of Cabaret Voltaire, he left after the release of 'Red Mecca' in 1981 to co-found another exotic merchant collective of the occult: The Hafler Trio. He's never been one to court publicity as this album clearly demonstrates in the boldest of terms. A man and his microphones in the wild places of the world chronicling a tapestry which remains unseen to the naked eye but with the aid of his audio gear, Watson provides sterling evidence of all that stirs while we sleep.

"Midnight at the Oasis" is a single long-form exposition of textures the natural world contains and also an aural essay on how timeless most life on this planet has always been; what a blink of the eye humanity truly is despite our achievements in science, art and technology. It can all be undone in a matter of milliseconds but that which Watson places on this disc will endure, will evolve and come into harmony with whatever new order is established upon our extinction event. One can only hope we will have left deep prints because the sheer multitude of voices and organisms on 'Cross-Pollination' would blot out the sun if it came too close. I fail to see how we would fare any better as our eventual capitulation to these ancient, near prescient forces is easily assured and will no doubt be upon us sooner than later because of our insistence of breeding to the point of infestation; our rapacious consumption of all natural resources doesn't do us any favors and so the capturing of such a gorgeously frail yet unconquerable microcosm is all the more impressive. This is the eye in the storm of mankind's systemic decimation of all that was before and an attempt to smother all which will be.

The second piece, "The Bee Symphony" explores the connections between the literal hive of bees and ourselves. The usage of caste, creed and pre-determinate roles are shown to be more common than we'd like to admit. For humanity's part, the choir assembled are understated yet the species connotations which flit amidst their intoned notes and the near seamless chorus of insectoid humming is unnerving. The communication may be of a vocal origin for us but who is to say what we sound like to them. Perhaps we are the slaves producing and they are the masters of this domain who merely lease the space to us, I know which side I'd rather be on. There is an amazingly emotive honesty to what these meek looking bees produce on their own or in a massive swarm of indeterminate voices each carrying it's own song, it's own lilting tale of labor which never seems to end.

Are we so different? Jul 24 2011