Pantuase (wetland at night)

"When choosing the field recording to work with, I was particularly drawn to a field recording of nocturnal amphibians from Pantuase, Ghana, featuring a species of frog that, until recently, had not been recorded before. The recording was made within a designated natural park, which was established both to protect species from pollution created by local industry and mining, and also to provide a place for tourists to visit.

"What interested me most was the sense of nature existing independently of human presence, often unnoticed. I was also interested in the idea that, when human activity fades, nature will very quickly reclaim a space.

"The composition is created mainly using modular synthesis and is structured to reflect these themes. The piece begins with the field recording, representing the existence of the natural world before the emergence of human influence. Gradually, the natural soundscape is is distorted and reduced until it becomes inaudible. However, its influence continues via the use of an envelope follower, which tracks the original recording and generates control voltage. This control voltage is then used to modulate other elements within the patch. In this way, the ecological presence survives in a latent form even after its audible disappearance.

"Towards the end of the piece, the field recording returns, albeit transformed from the original and still heavily processed by the modular. My intention was to highlight the fragility of nature and the ease with which natural environments can be overwritten by industrialisation and urbanisation, whilst also acknowledging its resilience and ability to endure, even within human-dominated spaces."

Amphibian chorus in Pantuase, Ghana reimagined by Richard Charles Boxley.