The Fells
The Fells is a soundwalk composition that resulted from a research residency at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, located in the Finnish Arctic Circle, in August 2023. During the residency, a series of soundwalks, listening sessions, and field recordings were conducted, exploring diverse ways of understanding and connecting with past, present and possible futures of this vulnerable, and disrupted environment.
All sounds featured in the composition originate from these local explorations. They are accompanied by a narrative drawn from field notes and conversations with historians and scientists met during the residency. Interwoven into this narrative are reflections by Oula A. Valkeapää—a local reindeer herder, artist, and storyteller—who shares his thoughts on the significance of wind for both human and more-than-human life in the region.
The recordings that form the content of the piece span an array of biophonic, geophonic, and anthropophonic sounds. Biophonic recordings include those of reindeer and bird species typical of the region, such as golden plovers, red-throated loons, buzzards, and redpolls. Geophonic and atmospheric sounds include vibrations of soil exposed to wind, the rumbling of waterfalls, and natural atmospheric lightning discharges (so-called sferics). More importantly, the anthropophonic sounds featured in the piece capture the various ways in which wind animates elements of human infrastructure scattered across the fells. These include remnants from WWII, such as debris from a German Nazi plane, fragments of trenches, barbed wire, and field prisons, border fences, as well as both operational and decommissioned unmanned scientific facilities used to monitor environmental changes or measure ionospheric activity.
Premiered in Helsinki in October 2023, the piece guided participants through a hybrid, multilayered soundscape where distant sonic traces from the Arctic fells converge with the immediate urban soundscape of Helsinki. Within this immersive experience, everyday city sounds become gateways to both perceivable and imperceptible soundscapes of the fells.
