Cities And Memory

"This recording felt introspective, reflective and meditative and the Indonesian chant took me back to Bali, where I had just been in April 2025. I used some recordings I took in Bali such as a dawn chorus and placed birds and rustles in the wider stereo field. I recorded myself playing the flute, basing the melody on the chant, which is woven throughout the piece." reimagined by Sarah McRuvie.

There are various insects and birds in Rumah Tangga while the space is filled with gardens. During the morning time, there used to be a 'sholawat' (a praise to God from a nearby mosque) until noon. Because of the vast lands, the megaphone sound from the mosque sprawls nicely throughout the area. The sound of the inhabitants gives a calm and soothing feeling. I love to wake up early in the morning to feel grateful for the aural sensation and warmth of the sunshine. I was sitting on my bed, behind my recorder, and enjoying the moment. Recorded in Leuwinanggung, Depok City, Indonesia by Mira Rizki Kurnia.

"I found inspiration for this piece within the first few seconds of listening to the recording, it quite literally leapt out at me (Pardon the pun), a very distinctive rhythm, I quickly wrote a riff that followed the rhythm and made it the focal point of this piece with it reappearing throughout, some very chaotic sections (similar to the hopping of a frog). I used guitar amps on a lot of the frog sounds that I'd chopped out of the originally recording to try and make them a little palatable but also still resemble a frog, made some cool effects using chopped up frog sound, lots of fun with this one!"Frogs in Varka, Greece reimagined by Gary Pitt.

"One night the frogs of Varka village were improvising!"Recorded in Varka, Greece by Agapi Zarda.

The original sample was resampled, with a lot of treatments. Guitar samples were added, as well as synth and keyboards sounds. The idea was to end up with an ambient piece in which you would still hear the original atmosphere. The piece was mastered by Fabric Decay, an electronic / experimental artist from Kyiv, Ukraine.Kelvingrove museum, Scotland reimagined by Abstrakt Lake.IMAGE: 瑞丽江的河水, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The atmosphere of the Kelvingrove art museum in Glasgow. People walking, talking, children playing. The amazing reverberation of the building makes steps sound a bit like treated percussion, at times. Minimum editing (fade in/out and EQ).Recorded by Balthazar Klimt.IMAGE: 瑞丽江的河水, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The most striking feature of the original field recording is dozens of motorbikes and scooters zooming past and dodging their way through the pedestrians. Throughout the day when it's busier they can only pass very slowly, but with sparser crowds at night they rip past us on both sides.This composition brings to life some of the energy of the city of Marrakesh by night, with the instrumentation highlighting the buzz and busyness on all sides. It's about absorbing the city and feeling energised by it, rather than drained. The motorbike recordings punctuate each turn of phrase, and no motorbike sound is used twice - there are 20 separate bike passes from the recording isolated and used as part of the flow of the composition.Bab Doukkala streetscape reimagined by Cities and Memory. 

Marrakesh, Morocco - at 9.30pm in the Bab Doukkala district, the city is full of life. Shops are open and bustling, the area is mostly locals and few tourists, but the most remarkable thing is the sheer number of scooters and motorbikes passing - in the space of just a few minutes, more than 20 motorbikes zip and slalom past us in the narrow alleyway, zig-zagging between pedestrians. You can hear it all in this recording.Recorded by Cities and Memory, January 2026. 

For this piece, multiple layers of synths, strings and other instruments layer on top of one another, performing variations of the same melody, to mimic both the repetition and individual variations within the the frog choruses. Each instrument becomes a voice joining in with the frogs’ calls, creating a melodic bed that reflects on the majestic beauty of nature’s large-scale gatherings of animals. Night time frog chorus in Goa reimagined by Cities and Memory.

"Reimagination of Hastings Boat Launch with a blues shuffle feel to it."Hastings boat launch reimagined by Gareth Eckley.

|Trees and birds have always been considered the lungs of a neighbourhood. Yet, even though we recognise their value, the policy of too many (Belgian) cities is to trade vibrant greenery for dull, grey concrete. This is a call to action: we must do more to protect our scarce green spaces."Bos forest, Amsterdam reimagined by Jade Yorks.

This was recorded near a field after the rain around midnight where frogs were having a huge discussion about meeting their future partners.Recorded in Goa, India by Anantha Krishnan.

his recording, made in January 2025, is of one of the fishing boats being launched from the beach in Hastings. This sustainable fishing fleet has a history spanning over 200 years and faces many challenges, such as the gradual decline of fish stocks, damage to the marine environment from pollution and climate change, over regulation and unfair competition and encroachment from the european industrial fishing fleets. Beach launched fishing boats are part of the cultural identity of our island, with its own deeply embedded heritage, culture and traditions that are disappearing with the decline of fishing communities. The recording was made as part of a 15 year project by myself working with Hastings Fishermens Protection Society to capture the oral history, and soundscapes of the fleet to create an archive for now and the future.Recorded by Mary Hooper.

Amsterdamse bos is a 100-year-old forest surrounded by a 750-year-old city. This artificial forest is both a forest and park-like. It provides a significant habitat for non-human creatures within the city. Meanwhile, behind the voices of birds, you can hear the constant sound of airplanes passing overhead on their way to Schiphol Airport, which was built on reclaimed land just like the forest. I recorded this on my way home from work on a day when spring rain had just begun to fall.Recorded by Yuto Miyazono.

Ambisonics recordings at Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War.Recorded by Anders Vinjar.

"I wanted to keep the original recording as intact as possible. I had some chord progressions I was already working on, and they seemed to fit the theme, so I orchestrated from there. Wanting something that reflected both the past, present and future of the location, the Berlin School influenced was obvious, but then it needed to break down a bit, before coming back to the reality of the present with the person doing the recording, sort of breaking the third wall once removed."Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin reimagined by Cole Dano.

"My first ever Cities and Memory track was a response to a very similar recording; that one, too, featured chimes. For that first track I re-sequenced the ringing and built my response on that 'quantised' structure.  "Some five years on I have changed very little to this original recording, leaving most of the irregularity in the ringing in place and working with and around its rhythm, embracing the imperfections and allowing some push and pull between the recording and my response. "In building my response I have worked much like I often do; searching for anything the recording insinuates, singing back to it and composing as I go along." Untuned Bell installation in Oslo reimagined by de Velden.

The Untuned Bell sound installation in Radhusplassen in Oslo. This 1.4-ton bell (anno 1949) was removed from the bell tower of Oslo City Hall because it was no longer in tune with the other 48 bells.  The artist found the bell lying silent on the ground and restored its voice. From its new home on Radhusplassen, here outside the City Hall, the bell can once again interact with the bells in the tower. By putting your foot on a Cry Baby wah pedal nearby, you can activate the untuned bell.  Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

In McCaig's Tower, overlooking the bustling harbour town of Oban, finches call out from all sides as we walk around the inside of the tower walls, while the hum of the harbour rises up the hill from below us. Recorded in Oban, Scotland by Cities and Memory in April 2025. 

"The piece takes its cue from McCaig’s Tower in Oban, Scotland—not as an architectural curiosity, but as an acoustic world. It begins and ends with the finches that inhabit the open structure, their calls forming the work’s natural frame.  "The music moves through evolving motifs: a peaceful drone and the suggestion of bagpipes represent the quiet of the unfinished enclosure overlooking the town and bay of Oban and a little of the builder’s proud, almost overreaching ambition; a more measured, tread-like pulse created from footsteps in the field recording, suggests generations of visitors drifting through the space; and a light, agile texture depicts the birds’ restless motion.  "Finally the pipes return as grandeur brushes against melancholy. The finches, ever-present, attend to their own concerns." Finches in McCaig's Tower reimagined by Martin Gregory.