Cities And Memory

Inside the Bücherbogen bookshop in Savignyplatz, a fantastic bookshop of art, design and architecture books built under a set of railway arches. A unique soundscape of the quiet of a bookshop, with the flicking of pages, with the deep rumble overhead of periodic passing trains.  Recorded in Berlin, September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

"In Latin, 'Pontis' not only refers to a physical bridge, but also a metaphorical crossing - a psychological parallel between lived reality and its parallel, hyper-real counterpart. My work explores the threshold of human imagination, and the subtle ways our perceived reality changes when consuming art. When reading or listening to material, our psychic perception of reality changes: the environment doesn't disappear, but transforms.  "The piece ends in a rhythmic layered flurry of page-flicks coupled with solo pre-recorded harp material (at Trinity Laban, London), turning the field recording depicting a human action of flicking through a book, into something mechanical, experimental and post-human.  "The Bucherbogen bookstore recording is the perfect vehicle to deliver this auditory palimpsest. The mumbled low rumbling of trains acts as a bridge - a 'pontis' - between the outer reality, and the parallel reality that is being formed inside the bookstore. Berlin is the perfect place for such a sonic crossove

"When I listened to this beautiful recording of the Pharo bells of Marseille, I immediately felt transported to the south of France, which I recently visited and adore. The memories of those places surfaced together with the splendid sound of the different bells ringing over the sea, forming a simple and delicate melody.  "This piece grows from that melody and from the sea itself, symbolising how certain moments in our past come flooding back through the tides of memory." Bells in Le Pharo, Marseille reimagined by Demiurgo.

This recording displays the sounds of a local celebration stumbled upon in the city of Chiang Mai. People of all ages gathered together to play music and dance, at a buddhist temple called Wat Ku Tao. Recorded in Chiang Mai, Thailand by Jake Edwards.

By day, high atop one of the tallest trees in the Waorani tribal territory of the Ecuadorian Amazon, the forest opens into a vast cathedral of sound. From this canopy — a sacred perch where countless birds pass by — the air vibrates with a living symphony. Wings beat the open sky, calls echo and overlap, and melodies shimmer in constant motion. Each branch becomes a resonant chamber, amplifying the chorus as if the whole canopy were singing.  From this height, the perspective shifts — the forest is no longer an enclosing labyrinth but an endless horizon of green, alive with voices and breath. It is the rainforest breathing in daylight, radiant and unbroken, a reminder that in these heights, life is not only seen but ceaselessly sung. Recorded in the Waorani Indigenous territory, Yasuní biosphere reserve, Ecuador by Rafael Diogo.

"Right from the first listen, I was struck by the sheer variety and strangeness of the natural sounds of the Ecuadorian forest. Some of them already seemed like electronic sounds in their own right. " I therefore approached my processing by keeping the original recording unaltered and superimposing layers of electronic material that respectfully sought to integrate and blend in as much as possible with the original soundscape. "In short, they were minimal, liminal, and camouflaged contributions, disguised as natural sounds." Yasuni biosphere reserve, Ecuador reimagined by David Rossato.

"To create this sound piece, I sampled the rhythms from the field recording and turned them into a loop. I detuned it slightly. I isolated a fragment of the voice from the recording and altered it as well. With these two elements, I added synthesizers with heavy reverb and distortion. The whole piece sits on the edge of the industrial genre; the traditional drums become almost like hammers or hydraulic presses. "Baudelaire writes in Autumn Song: Rocked by this monotonous pounding, I seem to hear Nails driven hurriedly into a coffin somewhere. For whom?—Only yesterday it was summer; now it is autumn! This mysterious sound echoes like a departure."  Wat Ku Tao celebration, Chiang Mai reimagined by Laville.

Recording starting just before 10:00. At 10, the bells of different churches start ringing. Binaural recording with OKM II and Zoom H2n. Recorded in Marseille, France by Patrick Petrossians.

"As I was browsing the Cities and Memory sound library, I had an LFO patch quietly looping in the background. When the field recording Lonely Beach surfaced, it fell into place with the glitchy texture I was shaping, just like the sound of ropes creaking on a sailing boat at night!  "From that accidental pairing, the track began to write itself. I took those two elements and let them drift together, along with scattered sounds of the twinkly stars, eventually becoming this warm, sleepy piece." Lonely Beach, Cambodia reimagined by Trees Can Talk.

"Whenever anyone speaks of Auschwitz, I always picture the iconic Arbeit Macht Frei Gate; an image linked to the atrocities associated with the holocaust. I have never been to Auschwitz, but when I heard the field recording I was instantly transported there. I found the sounds so evocative and tried to imagine how it must have felt for those individuals who were taken there in the 1940’s, although this is ultimately impossible. What thoughts must have been going through their minds as they approached the gate? These were ordinary human beings, and I often wonder how another person could possibly dehumanise in such a brutal way as the Nazis did. "I wanted “The Bird’ to consider these themes and think about the feelings of the people and whether they felt abandoned or simply resigned to their fate as they saw others being beaten or even killed. What must they have thought of the guards who treated them that way? I also wanted to try and represent the futility of such events by using the image of a bird flying,

At Lonely Beach on Koh Rong, the waves reach the shore in soft, unhurried patterns. Each swell rises and falls with calm consistency, a natural rhythm that soothes the mind. The beach is quiet and open, with only the sea’s gentle presence filling the air. It is a place of quiet retreat, where the sound of the ocean encourages rest and relaxation. Recorded by Jake Edwards.

Ambisonics recordings of the sound at the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate to Auschwitz-I.  This soundscape-composition is part of the HEYR project, presenting 3-dimensional soundscapes from special locations, connected to special events.  Find out more by visiting https://www.heyr.no Recorded by Anders Vinjar. 

Trains passing overhead on a overpass at Savignyplatz on a Sunday morning in Berlin, with light rain clearly audible too. Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

"The trains, from the field recording run, whilst the music represents thoughts of waiting for the next train and run between the train sounds. Some mangles train sounds appear amonst the music." Trains on an overpass at Savignyplatz, Berlin reimagined by Simon Woods.

"In the field recording, there was a conversation that felt like reminiscing. I say it felt that way because I do not speak the language. I loved the contrast between that dialogue and a shouting voice at the start and end that sounded desperate for someone's attention. "The shout itself could have been anything, a chant, a protest, or even a stall holder drumming up business, and it truly captured my imagination. "I wanted to create two opposing parts: the past, represented by a granular, ghostly memory, before moving into the 'now' and beyond, recognising that the present will one day become a memory itself. "I used the chant to move between these two states. I wanted it to represent resistance, protest, excitement, and the march of progress all at once, because change can be simultaneously exciting, scary, and sad. "Beyond the voices, I used other sounds from the recording to create granular rhythms and textures, as well as some more percussive sounds for a beat and finally, I worked on including addit

This intriguingly named street runs along a small river, perhaps now demolished and rebuilt. Once likely a standard six-step-wide street, it’s now a maze of residents’ makeshift additions, typical of old districts but still clean and tidy. At the junction of narrow alleys, elderly voices drift from homes, chatting over lunch in refined Yangzhou dialect, even more elegant than Suzhou’s.  Residents shuffle by in slippers, while a peddler’s calm calls echo faintly. Without the Yangzhou accent, this soundscape would likely mirror the daily life most people heard in the past. Recorded in Yangzhou, China by Digimonk.

"The original field recording is sparse, with snippets of conversation, people walking, cycling and the occasional jogger passing by. I wondered how this would all sound if it were continually layered over in a continuous loop in the style of Frippertronics.  "I used an experimental dual looper to capture and over-dub the original sounds, with each channel using a different length of audio loop. I then used a modular synth to create some slowly evolving drones and pads, all driven by extremely slow modulation." Sofienbergparken bench soundscape reimagined by Barry Cooper.

Ten minutes sitting on a bench in Sofienbergparken in Oslo, just listening to whatever happens and letting the world pass by.  Recorded in September 2025 by Cities and Memory. 

The busy building and streetscape sounds are granulated and diffused into the pulsing patterns of the Moog Subharmonicon, blurring human activity into a kind of civic harmony. These are the sounds of a society assembling itself.  Construction noise in New York reimagined by Alan Cook.

Lower East Side, Manhattan, NYC. A lively construction site with screaming saws, various impacts and machinery echoing off down the side streets near Essex Market in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Recorded with an X-Y stereo pair. Recorded by Casey Danielson.