Dan and Mali

This sound walk is a collection of fragments from artists Dan Waine and Mali Draper’s collaborative practice, combining immersive sound design and storytelling. 
 
“The moments from the night on the island are disjunct in the way that they sit in my head. Actually, on second thought they don’t sit, they bounce.
       I sat on the edge of a wall that surrounded a car park. The sky was much darker by this point, even the clouds were indistinct. They had dissolved into the indigo inkiness that hung above me. The red lights revealed themselves once again. 
       On, two, three, four, five, six, seven, off…”

The story centres around a character who accidentally gets trapped on an uninhabited island for an evening. The narrator finds themselves isolated without contact to the rest of the world, though still in view of the mainland over the body of water that separates them. A recurring focal point of the narrative is a mysterious red light that comes and goes, which ignites curiosity in the narrator, pulling them in and out of a dream-like progression throughout. The thoughts of the narrator may be shared with the audience, their fragmented and buffering nature feel very much like being put on pause; the lingering between one moment and another.
 
Due to COVID-19 this work has been adapted from what was originally planned to be an indoor, interactive installation at OUTPUT gallery. Dan and Mali have dissected their work into 18 soundscapes, forming a sound walk located in Princes Park, Liverpool so that the work can be accessed by the public in a safe way.

Speech transcription
[Voice 1]
In the distance the red light was just about visible. It went out of view every seven seconds and I counted meticulously, out of boredom. 

This is a story with an ending that doesn’t quite come to fruition. It is indefinite, like the ‘best before end’ date on plastic wrapped vegetables. 

This is a memory, or a memory of a memory, I’m not sure how far down the line to go. Perhaps these feelings didn’t actually occur; I may have tricked myself into believing. 

The moments from the night on the island are disjunct in the way that they sit in my head. Actually, on second thought they don’t sit, they bounce.

[Voice 2]
Visible.

Beautiful as it was,	above fact
Disconnected twice daily
Fast-moving thought within tidal walls.

Late,
Cold.

Cold.

My fingers lost,
Only plausible piercing my layers of skin.

A damp imprint.

Indefinite.
Plastic wrapped.
This memory line		
to go.

From the night island,

they sit in my head.

I sat on the edge of a wall.

Darker by this point.
Indistinct.
Dissolved into indigo hung above me.

Light red again.

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven

Off. 

[Voice1]
Red light
Seven seconds
Inky
Clouds
Water lapping 
I could hear it better than I could see
Patterns 
Appearances and disappearances


Audio Description
The clip begins with the spoken text from the first voice. A low and slow-swelling drone grows underneath the voice. The drone sound remains low and gradually blends into different pitches. As the first person finishes speaking, the drones die down into a single medium-pitched resonant hum. The low, slow-swelling drones pick up again but at a faster speed and the second voice begins speaking. Atmospheric sounds like birds and lapping water suddenly drop in and out. A sharp breath can be heard intermittently between the birds and water. As the second voice ends, all of the sounds drop out apart from the morphing drones. The first voice appears again, but with a distorted echo. As the final words are spoken, the drones fade out leaving the solo sound of the medium-pitched resonant hum.

1. In the distance the red light was just about visible (1)

Speech transcription:
Like the island

mass was

cut in two edges

faded, subtly

they rolled shortly before
the disappeared visibility	

watching.

Floodlit I gained perspective.


Audio description:
The clip begins with a light drone fading in. Alongside it a few notes of a higher pitched bell-like synth come in and fade out after each other, with quieter high pitched ringing tones and the light drone fading in and out in the background. These sounds carry on throughout as the text is spoken aloud. After the words ‘cut in two edges’ are spoken a quiet short ripping sound is immediately heard once. The light drone, bell-like synths and high pitched ringing noise continue after the spoken text is finished. The sound of wind blowing fades in. After a short time the other sounds fade out leaving just the wind which then fades out too, ending the clip.

[No spoken text]

Sound Description:
The sound of a strong wind fades in. A sudden high-pitched and mystical twinkle cuts through the wind. This is followed by a light and airy synth sound that forms a simple melody above the constant fast-travelling wind. The high pitched twinkle sound appears again, but more to the forefront of the soundscape; it quickly pans from left to right almost creating a slicing sound and feeling. A very faint, but deep and open resonance quickly swells in then out. Faintly, the twinkling sound shortly appears once more in a high-pitched tone, then the wind that has been continuous throughout, fades into silence.

Low humming drone with echoey droplet splices

High-pitch bell-like synth, followed by a quieter low-pitched echo

Speech transcription:
Years ago I was given an alarm clock. When the battery stopped I never replaced them. I don’t know how long it has been a useless object; for at least 2 years I would guess. 

The broken 
time 
is strong 
in my visual memory:        
05:04, or 17:04, 				         	       
four minutes 					       
past five.

It’s been said that even a stopped clock is right twice a day. 

Time has been standing still on my windowsill for a long time now, apart from the two separate fleeting minutes that are spaced 12 hours apart every day.


Audio description:
A low throbbing drone starts this clip - it has a digital/electric feel to the sound. Following this, a second drone subtly swells in. This drone consists of tiny particles or grains of sound from different orchestral instruments. Above this, a digitally-produced, bubbling, rotating sound grows; it fades in, panned to the left, then travels to the right where it fades out again. This pattern repeats throughout. A fourth drone joins the noise; a distorted synth that gently bounces, similar to the first throbbing noise, but not as low-pitched. All four drones quieten down as the voice begins to speak. The drones mix, but sit quietly underneath the voice. The sound of a gentle breeze appears, but also remains low. Whilst the voice is speaking, a bright hum can be heard as the circular sound builds and drops, panning from left to right. The sound of a ticking clock fades in very slowly. It sits quietly in the background of the mix. As the voice stops, the now-quiet drones end, leaving only the rotating/circular sound with the bright hum until they both subtly fade at the end of the clip.

Speech transcription:
Late.
Cold.
Cold.


Audio description:
The clip begins with echoey dreary sounding ‘oohs’ sung throughout the clip, behind it a watery-drone sound comes in and out accompanied by short quiet exhale breaths intermittently. This is followed by the words ‘Late. Cold. Cold.’ said in a whisper and a full voice with echo effects throughout the rest of the clip, which are accompanied by sharp, long, high-pitched whistling noises at intervals. All these sounds begin to quieten while the singing ‘oohs’ and high pitched whistling noises creep steadily on for a few seconds before fading into silence with one last high pitched whistling noise fading out the clip.

Speech transcription:
I thought of all the hands on clock faces in dark rooms that were turning as the red light came and went. Most of the time we don’t know the time, so it passes us by quietly.

Above me, the edges of clouds got caught in the moonlight’s glow as they simultaneously morphed and travelled. 

At the same time, somewhere, people would have been scrolling deeper and deeper into their social media pages; stretching the top of the feed to their current point of information overload. The ‘new posts’ button would pop up at the top of the screen inviting them to scroll to the top and start the cycle all over again.


Audio description:
The clip starts with the same repetitive, circular panning sound from clip four (Four minutes past five), but at a lower pitch. A low and steady hum sits underneath this and a delay/echo effect catches the tail end of the sound each time it fades out. All the sounds that have been heard so far calm down as the voice starts to speak. The sound of a ticking clock enters with an echo and slightly distorted effect. It subtly and slowly fades in and out throughout the piece. The hum and circular sounds swell in and die down at different volume levels throughout. As the voice ends, an eerie whirring sound lightly fades in along with a high-pitched, distorted chirping. Besides this a subdued whistle can be heard too. Towards the end, there is the sound of droplets in an echoey cave. The droplets sound like they are falling in all different directions around you. These mix with the eerie sounds that have just been described, until everything fades into silence at the end.

6. Most of the time we don’t know the time

[No spoken text]

Audio Description:
The eerie whirring sound, subdued whistle and high-pitched, distorted chirping continue from the tail end of the previous clip. This time, an unsettling rumbling sound underpins the detailed sounds just described. This is mixed in with the same spatial sound effects of water dripping in an echoey cave from the last sound piece.

Speech transcription:
My foot, placed.
Settled on the ground

Water circled and surrounded

Rippled outward from where I stood

Red light catches,
Silent, gleaming off each tiny
Fading wave.    
Soon
To become still again
Before
      
Fresh disturbance


Audio description:
The clip begins with a two-note echoing/pulsating/ tapping sound that fades in and out by volume. Water sounds like multiple drips into a puddle accompany this. Voice begins speaking (see above). The voice sounds like it’s heard from an old telephone: It’s quiet. The ‘S’ and ‘T’ sounds are sharper than others in the speech. After the words ‘Fresh disturbance’ are heard, the tapping and water sounds both fade away by a lowering volume until it’s silent, ending the clip.

Speech transcription:
It can be easy 
Sometimes 
To feel too heavy 
For this earth 
I could fall 
I thought
I entertained the sensation
An imp on my mind
I didn’t want to
Control
No control
My heart fluttered
I toyed 
With those thoughts
Push
Pull
Push?
I played with it 
For a second
I wouldn’t have 
Of course not 
An imp on my mind
The more you try 
To control it
The quicker 
It jumps around 
It dances 
On the edge of 
Your thoughts 
And briefly gets entwined
I relaxed 
To let the imp 
Untangle
It fell
I didn’t push
It didn’t pull
It just fell
Our distance 
Grew in latitude
I ascended
Or
It descended
In a line
The line descended quickly.


Audio description:
The clip begins with a soft, ambient synth playing a simple, melancholy sequence. A gentle breeze sound fades in, with the feeling of speed picking up and falling here and there. Above these gentle sounds, the voice begins to speak. The sound of small waves lapping merges in along with the atmospheric sounds of birds. The ambient synth  sequence gradually fades out, eventually sitting in the background of the mix. The speed of the wind seems to get stronger. The clip finishes with the sound of small rocks or stones tumbling downwards, following the narrator’s final sentence, “the line descended quickly”.

[No spoken text]

Audio Description:
The same ambient synth pad echoes the melancholic harmonies from the previous piece, but with a lower pitch. This time, there is a slight vintage-type nostalgic tape crackle on top. A gentle breeze sound rises and falls throughout. This short soundscape echoes sounds from the previous piece.

Speech transcription:
In the distance the red light was just about visible. It went out of view every seven seconds and I counted meticulously, out of boredom. 


Audio description:
A wobbling, electronic buzzing sound, a hollow, creaking, chittering sound and a mid and high synth tone fade in alongside each other, this repeats through the whole clip. A soft, almost sleepy voice with a high reverb speaks (above text). The sound begins to fade out altogether, ending the clip.

11. In the distance the red light was just about visible (2)

Speech transcription:
I imagined the huge puddle, still and in the daytime. It would become a perfect mirror to the sky, a steely slice of white and grey, cloud and light. A sharp, shard of an edge contrasted against the flattened earth it lay upon.

I could have jumped into it like an open window in the ground and found myself plummeting suddenly above everything, down through the clouds and back through time again, to the now dark puddle where my foot lay- toes wiggling- making small squelching noises in the icy mud-water they were swimming in. 


Audio description:
The clip begins with speech and no sound. After the words ‘mirror to the sky’ a high pitched whistle comes in quietly, followed by an eerie and sudden reversed twinkling sound. Here, whirling wind sounds come in, but get cut off by a high pitched slicing sound that feels as if it’s just travelled past you. A very low and quiet drone grows slightly in volume, with more reversed twinkling and high pitched slicing sound. Following this a shimmery high pitched sound begins slowly pulsing. After the words ‘plummeting suddenly above everything’ there is one spatial whooshing sound as if something moved fast through air in a downward motion. Dripping water sounds come in after the words ‘toes wiggling’, which is joined once by the quiet high pitched whistle again. All sounds fade out. Last sound heard is the low drone fading.

Speech transcription:
It is often said to start at your feet. My feet are under water for an average of two hours and 20 minutes a day.
 
I have written a story, but it is not this that you are listening to right now. I dived into the sea of words, pulled a few out, and placed them here. They do not speak about, they sit next to, and whisper a fragment of the story that they left behind.
 
Everything in this world has two sides, the visible and the invisible. Every day, we candidly sway in between. Learning this in language is like trying to untangle the tacky, rubber chord of earphones. The Welsh alphabet contains 29 letters. There are no outsiders, every letter that can be written, can be heard. No character is severed from speech; no ghost letters or muted sounds. Language is a capsule of a homeland; a reminder when you are elsewhere. Sometimes, the capsule slips from the tip of my tongue, it tilts on the edge of my memory too. 
 
One late night I was doodling, and drew an image composed of lots of skinny lines. I wrote the Welsh word llinell next to the drawing. Llinell means line, spelt: double l, i, n, e double l. In its appearance, it stands sturdy, similar to the meaning it holds. The word physically holds itself within itself; isolating and enclosing its contents away from other words. If llinell was a drawing, its lines would make it seem lonely. If this word could take itself for a walk, it would also doodle skinny lines — regimented and vertical. If you look at it and squint, it illustrates what it conveys, stroke after stroke after stroke, although it interrupts itself half way through.
 
The story that loaned itself to what you can hear now, takes place on an island that has been cut off by the evening tide. Like the tidal walls that imprison the island, alphabetical walls surround this word.
 
Sever. Verb. To divide into parts; disunite. The story that floats behind this spoken text describes the island as once holding hands with the mainland, only losing grip as the evening’s inky blanket fell. In your ears, I am severing llinell from all other words, creating a vacuum, but no word is an island — they cannot survive on their own.
 
Perhaps words should not be cracked open. Instead, they could be the cracking tool, used to dig deep and travel. They pulse and oscillate, but do not necessarily designate. Like a map, their formation is a material network of lines to point us somewhere or draw pathways for our imagination to follow. Lines, words and drawings cannot keep up with themselves because they casually linger behind thought, like a slow walking companion.
 
Elsewhere, the watery border lashes against the island’s edge. In your ears right now, the digging around the word llinell begins to destabilise it. Shores are restless. This is the point where what you are able to hear naturally comes to an end. In trying to understand words too much, their lines become brittle and fall apart. Words are thin and cannot stand alone.


Audio description:
This clip has minimal sound design throughout. It begins with sliced up samples of the sounds of flowing water. The narrator begins speaking. When the narrator says “I dived into the sea of words, pulled a few out, and placed them here”, the water sounds quickly descend in pitch and disappear completely - giving the illusion of falling. Gentle lapping water sounds discretely appear. As they fade away, the sound of a pencil drawing lines starts quietly then gets louder at the point where the narrator talks about doodling and the formation of the Welsh word ‘llinell’. After a short while, the pencil sound fades, and only the narrator’s voice is audible. After a short period of only hearing the voice, the sound of the waves lapping softly appear then disappears again. The voice becomes the only source of sound again. Towards the end of the narration, the sound of footsteps merges and blends with the timing and sound of a pencil drawing strokes; the footsteps fade out, the pencil strokes continue, then they fade out too.

Speech transcription:
[Voice one]
Red light
Seven seconds
Inky
Clouds
Water lapping
I could hear it better than I could see
Patterns 
Appearances and disappearances.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, off?

[Voice two]
On, two, three, four, five, six, seven, off.
On, two, three, four, five, six, seven, off.
On, two, three, four, five, six, seven, off.

[Voice one]
On, two, three, four, five, six, seven, off.

On, two, three, four, five, six, seven, off.

I wondered what these lights were.


Audio description:
This soundscape begins with the same low, slow-swelling drone and water lapping sounds from the first piece. Gradually, the level of the drones drops down and the lapping water sounds become more prominent. The drones completely cut out then re-emerge as the second voice starts. As the volume level of the drones increase, the water sounds fade. The blending, rise and fall of the drones and lapping water flow continuously throughout the piece. Now and again, there is an occasional distant squawk from a bird that can be heard above the lapping tide. At the end, the sentence “I wondered what these lights were” is spoken with an echo effect. The piece ends with all sounds fading into silence.

Speech transcription:
Below me, the red light was broken now. Fragmented as it divided itself between the numerous ripples made by the movement of my drowning toes. If I were tiny and in this water, I would have been tossed around by these ripples, moved by their self-contained current. I’d have heard them crashing like waves with a sound that would envelope my body and flood my mind before moving past me. This reminded me of ripples in sound waves, moving like an echo through tunnels; I was taken into the story of a book I read years ago. 


Audio description:
Chirping bug calls begin the clip. A low, bassy synth chimes at intervals, each time climbing and dropping in pitch slightly. Softly scraping metallic quality noise makes a figure 8 slowly at the straight edges then fast around the curves, repeating. Quiet dripping sounds come in, spatial and echoing like from a tunnel or cave, they carry throughout the clip. There is sometimes a sound of something heavier dropping that sounds slightly metallic like a coin dropping into a puddle. Speech begins. After ‘a book I read years ago’ is said, there is a squelching splash sound like someone stepping into a muddy puddle. The metallic figure 8 sound last then fades out after the speech. A throbbing, distorted sounding drone noise pulses and echoes, with each pulse there is also a quiet two-note hollow almost-popping sound straight after. The bassy synth from the beginning grows in again at intervals. The dripping becomes more metallic sounding and louder, sometimes there is the sound of movement through water like trying to walk in a deep puddle. The pulsing drone and synth fade out. Finally, there is an eerie, high pitch whistle synth in two tones descending and fading out. The metallic dripping fades lastly, ending the clip.

Speech transcription:
Comforted by its warm glow, I imagined the heat given off by whatever bulb brought its red light to my starved eyes. How strange and dark and alone that underground civilisation must have felt when the emergency lights flickered or broke.  

Soaked to the skin in shadow like my foot in this puddle. Those terrifying echoes that travelled from their tunnels, of unidentifiable sounds, where a ripple could twist itself into a roar as it travelled. Sounds would have been elevated in place of sight for them. Drips from ceilings could have punched the ground to form puddles that rippled at the inhabitants feet - invisibly with no red light to catch on the rises and falls to show any sign of light and life.


Audio description:
*Some of the same sounds used in previous clip (#15)*
A throbbing, distorted drone noise pulses and echoes, with each pulse there is also a quiet two-note hollow almost-popping sound straight after.  A low, bassy synth grows in at intervals, each time climbing or dropping in pitch slightly. Quiet dripping sounds come in, spatial and echoing like from a tunnel or cave, they carry throughout the clip. There is sometimes a sound of something heavier dropping, that sounds slightly metallic like a coin dropping into a puddle. An eerie, high pitch whistling synth in two tones descends and fades out, appearing again at wide spread intervals. After a few seconds of the above sounds playing, the text (above) is spoken. The sounds described above continue throughout, each moving in and out of the forefront a little. High pitched, distorted, airy whistling sounds begin to ebb into the mix, slowly growing louder. A slight ruffling noise, like movement. The figure 8 metallic sound comes back in and out of the background quietly. Here, a footstep sound quickly becomes an echo, this grows and feeds-back into itself. It gets louder and more distorted. It then begins to sound like something growling and skittering. The sound also begins to contain different pitches and tones layering over itself. Eventually, it trails off and you are taken back to softer drones, drips and whistles. These last sounds fade out and the clip ends.

Speech transcription:
Clocks turning, people scrolling, cliffs diminishing, eyes closing, imp dancing, red light fading, sky travelling, waves rolling, moon turning, imp falling, line drawing, earth spinning, eyes closing, tide rising, pathway falling, thunderbolt flashing, red light glowing, heart fluttering, line drawing, eyes closing, red light flickering, earth spinning, pushing, pulling, eyes closing, rocks falling, stone crumbling, grass growing, footsteps sinking, clock hands rotating, stars ricocheting, sea trembling, surface rippling, sky blackening, coastline pulling, eyes resting, battery dying, water pushing, stone falling, hands following, red light glowing, silence falling, rubber erasing, line un-drawing, eyes closing.


Audio Description:
Throughout this piece the two voices read the same text. Voice one begins, voice two then fades in so that the two overlap until it is on its own, then voice one fades in and overlaps with voice two as it fades out towards the end.

This piece includes a mixture of some of the sounds heard in the previous pieces. It begins with the swelling drone that is made up of tiny particles of orchestral instruments. Voice one begins whispering the text slowly. As the volume of the voice increases, the drone settles down until it nearly disappears, but remains hushed in the background. A medium pitched resonance gradually sneaks in between the voice and the drone. As voice one begins to get quieter, voice two subtly fades in, but at a speaking volume rather than whispering. Simultaneously, the resonance sound grows in intensity alongside voice two. The rotating, drone-like sound from a previous clip enters and helps the other drone sounds to build intensity. A new resonant and deep hum rises and falls. The narrators change the speed and pace of their words throughout. Hollow collision-type sounds cut through the mix of different drones, also panning between left and right. The repetitive rotating drone sits on top of the layered mix. At this point the piece reaches its peak in intensity. A deep echoey collision sound cuts through the noise and the intensity of the drones quickly dies down leaving only the sound of the calm resonance underneath the voice. After this, voice two dies down as voice one seeps back in, but whispering very gently. The circular drone tries to break through but remains low in volume. Echoes of the collision sound randomly intersect the now-calmer noise scape, but with a much more dispersed sound quality. As the whispering voice finishes, all of the sounds fade away apart from a hollow resonance which lingers unaccompanied until it falls into silence.

Dan and Mali 

Down Through the Clouds and Back Through Time Again

Down Through the Clouds and Back Through Time Again

27 ECHOES

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The Echoes

1. In the distance the red light was just about visible (1)

2. Cut in two edges

3. Interlude 1

Remix 1

Remix 2

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Down Through the Clouds and Back Through Time Again

room 27 ECHOES

DOWNLOAD OUR APP TO DISCOVER THIS TOUR AND MANY OTHERS.

The Echoes

1. In the distance the red light was just about visible (1)

2. Cut in two edges

3. Interlude 1

Remix 1

Remix 2

Discover more geolocated content in our apps.

Are you a creator?

Get in touch

Echoes creative apps

Echoes labs

About us

27 ECHOES