5.00 pm: Something sinister lurks beneath the River Elbe
A beautiful beachside cafe at Blankenese, which on a late afternoon in October is pretty quiet, but at the peak of summer must be one of the busiest places in the city. Tonight, the wind’s blowing and the most common sight is people walking their dogs – you can hear dogs running past barking with delight during the recording, but otherwise the focus is on the waves of the River Elbe breaking on the banks.
Montreal sound artist Eric Powell took his sonic toolkit to the recording for a beautifully subtle reimagining that starts off relatively faithful to the original recording, then seems to take a deep dive into the River Elbe itself, swimming beneath the ships and observing the beachside action from beneath the waves like some sinister sea monster.
City version:
Memory version:
