A Closer Listen
As the news buzzes with updates on global tariffs, Zones Portuaires 2 lands with unexpected relevance. Maritime ports have been plunged into the headlines, their workers feeling the impact while having nothing to do with the decisions. Zones Portuaires 2 honors those caught in the middle while emphasizing free trade and the health of international relations.
The first volume of Zones Portuaires was released in 2013, a double disc featuring éric la casa and cédric peyronnet. The recordings of harbors in France and Belgium highlighted the sonic wealth found at the intersection of nature and humanity. la casa’s follow-up, twelve years in the making, expands the project’s geographical scope: “the Gulf of Oman in Abu Dhabi, the harbour of Singapore, the Mediterranean shores of Beirut, at the meeting of the Douro and the Atlantic ocean in Porto, in Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait and the Sea of Marmara, and finally in Botany Bay and the Tasman Sea in Sydney.”
As is fitting, the first sounds belong to the water; for what would a maritime port be without the ocean? “Le Littoral” gradually folds in the sounds of the engines, as machinery meets churn and transit meets flow. In the less turbulent minutes, it’s difficult to distinguish between precipitation and drip. For those working at the ports, water sounds may serve as comfort and lull. Eventually there are beeps and motors, interactions with the sea. A foghorn and a sole gust of wind serve as the sole reminders that such work can also be dangerous. Finally in minute nine, human voices surface, completing the soundscape.
A brief segment of radio communication leads to the next large piece, “Les espaces portuaires.” la casa has confirmed that these pieces all incorporate the samples of different ports and nations. By finding commonalities, la casa amplifies the entire concept of international trade. Each port yields its own distinct sounds: sea life, a coastline break, accents and specific machines. At the end of the fifth minute, someone starts singing; or it is a local radio? Yet the whole is greater than the parts, while the success of the industry depends on communication and compromise.
The creak and rumble of “Les Outils, Les Objets” (“The Tools, The Objects”) yields musical tones, operating as a low symphony of metal and wood. In the early minutes, there’s even a tempo. An alarm briefly sounds, is silenced and then restarts. By “Les Machines,” the sounds are almost all industrial ~ again, they are musical, although now the matching genres are drone and industrial music, the latter no surprise. The alarms are beginning to grow worrisome, a signal that there is danger at the ports, danger in the water, danger in the trade industry. As the center of the piece falls silent, one speculates about docks being closed, ships stuck at port, all trade at an impasse. Thankfully the sounds restart. Will the same be true of international trade?
la casa certainly did not set out to capture the zeitgeist, but Zones Portuaires 2 does exactly that, and as such becomes essential listening. (Richard Allen)
Tue Apr 15 00:01:29 GMT 2025