Fred Lonberg-Holm and the Amphibians of the Everglades featuring Gustavo Matamoros

Bow Hard at the Frog

Never one to shy away from unusual projects, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm set out into the mosquito-infested swamps of Florida’s Everglades in search of a host of amphibious collaborators. In the night air, he bowed and plucked in conversation with the environment, especially the vocalizing frogs, which seemed to take him on as an exotic member of their own. Impeccably documented by the experienced soundscape artist and field recordist Gustavo Matamoros, working like a perverse herpetologist, Lonberg-Holm may have created a whole new genre of experimental audio: outdoor interspecies improvisation. Other features of the evening ambience are warmly embraced – a passing car, mysterious water noises, even the incessant mosquitoes. Determining where these swamp sounds end and the maestro’s cello begins is perhaps the greatest challenge of all. Not something you can say often: Bow Hard at the Frog is a genuinely unique sonic experience.

CVSDCD044

Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello Amphibians of the Everglades, noises
Recorded at Everglades National Park the evening of February 02, 2016, as part of the January, 2016, Subtropics Artist Residency at Audiotheque: Fred Lonberg-Holm, resident artist; Gustavo Matamoros, collaborator. Gustavo used Sennheiser microphones in a mid- side configuration straight into a SoundDevices digital field recorder.
As an integral part of his compositional practice, Gustavo Matamoros makes creative audio recordings of South Florida environments for sound diaries, artwork, performances, installations and collaborations with other artists.
The title comes from a direction in the score for Iannis Xennakis’s “Kottos.”
Photograph by Sima Dhesi. Mastered by Alex Inglizian at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago. Produced by John Corbett.