Die Walpolden - Down Under Schierstein Bridge

 

Released: November 29

A collaborative effort of four sound artists including Brandstifter, Ingmar Ehler, Michael Klotzki, and Tanja Roolfs, Die Walpolden is a bit of a difficult listen. It's never abrasive or overbearing, but it is an odd little walk for the just short of an hour it lasts. The entire thing is broken down into two separate tracks with almost a perfect continuity between them as various sounds of feet shuffling, the flowing of a nearby river, and the voices of the artists themselves come in in and out of focus in this spanning aural documentary. I use the word documentary because this is more of less what the experience feels like. 

The creators themselves make no attempt to hide that they are making this as it is being made with short moments of them discussing with one another what to record or how they recorded something from across the river. There are even these neat little moments in which they excitedly discuss and laugh together about the new thing they found to tap or bang on to create new sonic textures. It feels very much like a slice of life, but made surreal. I can hear all of these sounds of their afternoon but it seems to remove the context of the day around it - was it sunny? Cloudy? Where are the other people? It all feels so alive, but also as though it is very human action taking place in a void of some sort, even as the sounds of a nearby city peep into the world temporarily and fleetingly. This is a terrific listen for laying down and closing your eyes for an hour and trying to imagine the scenery.