Jason Kahn
"Soundings"
(2022)
Editions 012
book+cd

15x14 cm
165 pages
CD duration 69.47
ISBN 978-3-033-09140-5

Text written February 2021 to April 2022.

All recordings made by Jason Kahn February 5 to March 22, 2020 in Zürich.

Realized with the generous support of Stadt Zürich Kultur Covid-Arbeitsstipendium 2022.

Excerpts from the accompanying CD:

Langstrasse Pedestrian Underpass

This space
a swirling
vortex
of trains
passing
above
voices out
of nowhere
skaters taking
the ramped wall
while columns
of traffic
pass just
outside
the other wall
plastered with
advertising for
holidays
insurance
anti-fascism
feminism
ways to
save
the planet
ways to
leave
the planet.

If I close
my eyes
it's easy
to disappear
in the hail
of sound
and echo
the feel
of a cool
breeze
as bikes
and scooters
go whizzing by
getting sucked
through
this tube
of rushing
sound.

From the introduction:

I wrote the texts in this book as a kind of memorial device to re­cordings I made in Zürich between February 5 to March 22, 2020. Though not a direct reaction to the Covid pandemic, the transfor­mation of the city due to restrictions of movement in the public space made these recordings only first possible in many ways.

Of course, what immediately became noticeable after the first shutdown of the city occurred was how quiet the normally noisy urban environment had become. It was as though a veil had been lifted between my ears and all the sounds that were normally hidden there. All of a sudden I noticed the birds singing, the sound of a paper wrapper skittering down the sidewalk in the wind, the new-found clarity of church bells ringing near where I lived, how footsteps seemingly exploded over cobblestones or the sound of a fountain, before just a hail of white noise, now resembling more a kaleidoscope of endlessly repeating rhythmic patterns.

I went out and explored the city anew, with microphone in hand and ears wide open. In the midst of so much tragedy, I was able to salvage something positive and also illuminating, regaining a sense for the audible space of a city I'd lived in for the last twenty years but had until now never really experienced at this level of acute detail and presence.

I never intended to do anything with these recordings. They were not made with the purpose in mind of using them as material in some composition or exhibition. It was just my way of dealing with a crisis situation and at the same time salvaging something positive out of all the pain and suffering. The recordings remained on my computer for another year when by chance I came across them again and started to give them a listen. Each recording held a wealth of memories which came rushing back as I listened. I was amazed at how intricate details, things I hadn't given any thought to for the last year, were suddenly there in front of me again, vivid and alive, as if they'd happened just a day or two ago.

I became fascinated with the resonance of my memory and started to write short texts in reaction to each recording, creating a kind of field recording of recollection. Each text draws out what I experienced in sound and feelings from its corresponding recording. There's often an intense focus on sounds but more intriguing I think are how these sounds had an emotional impact on my psychological and spiritual state, often triggering memories from as far back as my childhood. Writing these texts became a journey through a prism of memories, all starting with each of these recordings and sometimes just one singular sound.

The recordings I made are included here on CD to provide a basis of comparison for the reader, though I feel they're by no means necessary. Either the texts or the recordings could stand on their own, but placed side-by-side they provide an interesting juxtaposition for the reader to explore. It's not intended that the text or the recordings be read and listened to at the same time, however there is no prescribed method for experiencing this book. The reader should find their own way through these texts and sounds, just as I found my way through the city, following my ears as I made these re­cordings and tracing my memories back through time as I wrote the texts.

I hope this book inspires other people to explore their own living spaces and to consider how what they're hearing transports them to other states of mind or times in their lives.

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