Following a series of ‘Deep Listening Walks’ with the public, and field recordings gathered at the Flow Country, a series of soundscapes were composed as part of Cryptic‘s for “Below the Blanket“, a dusk time meditative walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh. Inspired by The Flow Country, one of Scotland’s most important landscapes and home to the best example of blanket bog in Northern Europe.

The first series of ‘Deep Listening Soundscapes” are composed from underwater sound recordings from bog pools and lochs of the Flow Country and also by sinking special microphones deep into the water logged blanket bog, into layers of peat that took thousands of years to form; almost like listening back in time. These soundscapes were played back through sculptural forms (inspired by the ‘bog bean’ plant, found sprouting up from bog pools).  Listeners are invited to walk amongst the gardens and tune in to the submerged sounds of the peat bog emerging from strange metallic plant-like sculptures. The clicks and pops of underwater creatures resonate and are amplified through the metal tubes. Take a listen here :

And here are some photos of the bog-bean resonators in Situ at the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh taken by Neil Jarvie (first two) and Kathy Hinde (third one).

Below the Blanket premiered at Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh during August 2019. Produced by Cryptic as part of the “Flows to the Future” project raising awareness of the important of the Flow Country in partnership with RSPB Scotland.