“Antarctica left a restless longing in my heart beckoning towards an incomprehensible perfection for ever beyond the reach of mortal man. It’s overwhelming beauty touches one so deeply that it is like a wound.†These are the words of explorer, meteorologist, author and filmmaker Edwin Mickleburgh who recorded these sounds in Antarctica during the late sixties. Whilst he wasn’ a dedicated field recorder, these recordings are still very clearly articulated and at times quite beautiful and amazing. The Weddell Seals, Emperor Penguins, Elephant Seals, and Fur Seal, all sound quite incredible, almost human and it’s clear that Mickleburgh was able to get his microphone extraordinarily close, picking up some crazy guttural sounds. Mickleburgh also recorded some very evocative natural phenomenon as well, terrifyingly rough seas that approach white noise, the sound of a blizzard and the extraordinary sound of the movement and cracking of the ice which though we’ve heard recordings of this made by Chris Watson in more recent times, never fails to amaze. The focus is on the fauna however, doves, petrels, pigeons, even the huskies which continue to be important in getting to locations that heavy machinery can’ access. There’ a wealth of detail in the liner notes with each track covered, however it has little to do with the recording, rather it’s a more generalist though still informative account of the life cycle of the animal and where it is located in Antarctica. This is the only problem with this amazing release. There is little information about Mickleburgh himself, how or even why he recorded these sounds. As the above quote suggests Antarctica touched him profoundly, yet there is no mention of his relationship with it. Yet whilst this assists with the context it makes little difference to your reaction to these sounds. Some of them sound almost composed,you tune your ears in to the background sounds and then get startled by the deep belching elephant seals up disarmingly close. Whilst Mickleburgh succeeded in documenting the beauty of the continent, he’ also captured the brutality and the violence.
Bob Baker fish
