Latitudes

I try to understand spaces, places, and ecologies by listening to them...

Sometimes I press record.


© Richard Youell

Latitudes is a project where I combine sounds I recorded from all over the world. I research how flora, fauna, people, climate and geology interact through trembling air. Sounds from the tundra and the jungle, the North Sea and the Savannah. the City, the Forest and the Village. I search for structures and shapes where these very different sound hook into each other, interact with each other. How sounds generate expectations and how we can play with these expectations. In Latitudes I build new ephemeral landscape from all these testimonies of worldly sound. A mesmerizing the length of a composition.

Through juxtaposing these sounds, melting them together, weaving them through each others flesh, I develop compositions, soundscapes, and live sets where I explore the sonic material, creating new sonic structures.

Currently, Latitudes contains recordings from, among others, Sweden, Finland, Gabon, Romania, France, Kenia, Indonesia, Norway, Italy, South Africa, The Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Lebanon, and Belgium... Some of the recordings were made during residencies with Francisco López, Chris Watson, Jez Riley French, BJ Nilsen, and Jana Winderen.

The first Latitudes composition was commissioned by Musica for their Radio Forest installation. During a residency of two weeks in the installation I composed Latitudes - Radio Forest, tailored to the specific architecture of the installation. The soundtrack is now part of their permanent collection of soundscapes.

With the field recordings gathered in the frame of Latitudes I also play live sets. These sets are tailored to the occasion. Below you can hear one of these. It's a set I played at Radio Panik for Suzy Vincens' Ver(s)ions project, where I interpreted one of her graphical scores using the field recordings from Latitudes.


In October 2017 I released my first album to come out of the Latitudes series, Latitudes - September 2016. It was released on the Belgian label Silken Tofu.



Latitudes  is supported by the Kunstenwerkplaats. The overal research, the Iceland residency and the Gabon recording trip were made possible by support of the Flemish Community. I would like to thank the following people for helping me along the way: George Vlad, Gilles Helsen, Paul Craenen, Ellen De Bruyne, Chris Watson, Francisco López, Jez Riley French, Jana Winderen, B. J. Nilsen, Stefan Taylor, and the participants of Sonic Mmabolela 2013 and 2017, the 2015 Wildeye, and 2015 Sonic Acts residencies.