Katrina Niebergal & Bergur Anderson — come, Memory: fieldwork

come, Memory: fieldwork is a true labour of love dedicated to the landscape and the interface between the omniscient ancient and what today we recognise as culture. Katrina Niebergal and Bergur Anderson, both interdisciplinary artists, spent two years visiting sacred and, in most cases, Neolithic European sites across Malta, Greece and the UK and as they travelled, not only did they chronicle their trip visually, but they collected accompanying audio recordings. Together these formed the basis of three experimental short films and the scenographic installation come, Memory that was presented in Rotterdam earlier this year.

 

Now, with come, Memory: fieldwork,  Niebergal and Anderson have turned their attention to the sonic element, releasing the audio to this project - a mixture of field recordings and musical snippets that standalone beautifully without visuals. Opening with ‘Optigan organ intro’ and the portentous sound of church bells, the organ of the title ushers in the first piece of musique concrète. Throughout, the duo deftly combine individual recordings to enhance both meaning and sound. ‘Tarxien Temples / by Ramla beach, Malta’, for example, juxtaposes a woman in animated conversation with barking dogs, chirruping birds and background street noise creating a musical menagerie, while ‘busker and busy corner, Athens / goats on the way to Katholiko beach, Crete’ takes the hustle of the street and the subtle background busker’s guitar and pairs it with the contrasting tranquillity of ambling goats.

We touch closest to the neolithic aspect on ‘Stonehenge chats / Agia Triava Archeological Site, Crete’ spying on tourists deep in discussion of old burial rituals, while ‘Mdina bus, Malta/excerpt from Lewis Mumford’s The City in History, 1961’ is a curious piece. An intriguing spoken passage from the seminal text that focuses on women and fertility, all underscored by the undulating hum of a bus.

In these examples, musicality is implicit. In other places, it is less so. ‘Acropolis Athens’ mixes street sounds with the faint hint of looping, magnetic synth drums, therein juxtaposing the technical world with the ancient. Likewise, electronica sits alongside voices on “CROWD* voices, the great mound / Juno’s groove’, while the mouth is central to “background voice takes, No talking spring” with mmmms, incessant breathing and the repeating of ‘you, you, you, you.’

Along this absorbing sonic voyage, there are three pieces that really stand out. ‘Skorba Temples, Malta / Druid’s theme’ sees crackling fire segue into slow-burning dystopian synth - ominous and strangely at odds with the nature-centric aesthetic of the Druids. “Optigan boogie / Orthodox service, Mykonos / water splash” which is reminiscent of the work of The Caretaker - the sound of a jazz ensemble emerging from a worn ’78 as descending bass, snare, hi-hat, bass drum, piano and then the semblance of a tune appear one by one. With distorted voices overlaid on top, the piece ends with a solitary splash. The one (welcome) anomaly on come, Memory: fieldwork is ‘Snake Eyes, Noble Experiment (Thinking Fellers Union 282, 1994)’ lo-fi indie that echoes the Velvet Underground - male and female vocals harmonising to lilting instrumentation, wah-wah/sound effect synth guitar.A fascinating aural document, available to buy here.