Viento

Some of the coldest sounds on earth. Recordings taken during a trip to Patagonia and Antarctica in 2010, originally released in 2015 and "completely remixed and remastered" for this 2022 reissue on Lawrence English's label, Room40. The album is two long pieces, and the track descriptions below quote English's notes about the recordings and the conditions he made them under. RIYL snow, ice, the Beaufort scale. Both tracks well worth playing. No words, no FCCs.

1. (19:16)—"What was meant to be a few hours layover [at an airbase outside Rio Gallegos] turned into several days as, on landing, a strong wind storm blew in unexpectedly.... Across three days I recorded abandoned buildings, lone trees folded over in fields of tundra-like grasses, quivering road signs, wailing fences and other objects shaken into life by the wind."
2. (16:22)—"The Antarctic recordings were made during two blizzards at Marambio and Esperanza bases. During the blizzard in Marambio, the temperature dropped to -40 degrees centigrade (with wind chill) which made recording particularly challenging. The wind battered the base’s structures and telecommunications equipment, making a range of unsettling, phasing choral drones and deep low frequency vibrations that resonated inside the base itself."