One Step at a Deep Time

One Step at a Deep Time is a soundwalk composition developed for Canaveral National Seashore, the longest stretch of undeveloped Atlantic Coastline in Florida, US.

The piece takes listeners from one side of the park, the ocean during sunrise, to the other, the Mosquito lagoon at dusk, two disparate environments, yet interdependent and deeply connected. Besides sounds of environmental phenomena, water, rain, wind, storms and numerous animal species, the listeners get to encounter many noises including electric flows from utility poles, switchboards and vending machines, all ensuring that visitors can experience this unique place. The piece also brings attention to noises from the ever-intensifying activities of the nearby space center, including rumbling of space launches performed by NASA and SpaceX. The piece folds these different sonic layers, at the end leaving the listener submerged in the soundscape of underwater life as experienced and recorded on the lagoon side of the park, an extremely vulnerable environment, home to many species including shrimp, oyster toadfish, drum fish, manatees and bottlenose dolphins.

Additionally, the piece interweaves voices of people concerned with the depletion of biodiversity which is also affected by the intensifying noise pollution in the region. The accounts include members of the local community, Sound Seekers, a group of eye impaired and blind youth who regularly explore natural environments of Florida through sound. They were asked two questions to reflect on: What sounds and soundscapes of today would you like to protect so the future generations can experience them? What sounds do you think will dominate in the future, either in a decade or in the deep future, thousands years ahead?

Based on an array of field recordings made during Soundscape Field Station residency at the park in early 2023, the soundwalk composition is developed to be listened to along one of the selected trails within the borders of the park.