As we mentioned a short while ago, a couple of artists picked out boat recordings despite not being especially fond of boats, to say the least. So why did La Cosa Preziosa pick out the sound of a tourist boat trip? Here she explains eloquently:

“I am not a huge fan of boats, of any kind, wherever I am. Non mi piacciono i vaporetti. Je n’aime pas les bateaux-mouches. Even visiting the historic Vasa ship in Sweden sank my spirits.

“Vessels on water instantly evoke in me a sense of entrapment in a confined space for a pre-determined duration, to a pre-determined destination, and there’s nothing I like about that. The lull and the resonance of the water work together to first induce a sense of drowsiness, then finish you off with sleepy boredom. Sleep would be fine, except there’s always a damp seat or a pungent stink of diesel to keep you awake enough to entirely dislike the experience. Anything else?

“So, naturally, I had to pick ‘Boat Tour Through Speicherstadt near Kesselhaus’ as my sound to remix for the Cities and Memory Hamburg project.

“Look, I don’t know. I just thought the loathing would give me a starting point at least. And while listening, I remembered (cities and memory, after all) of something else that happens to me when I am on a boat: the constant rhythm of the water hitting the hull, those bass frequencies, conjure up sounds in my head. Words sometimes, other times melodies, sometimes random rhythmical patterns. So I thought I’d try and recreate the experience, introducing some imagined beats to the field recorded soundscape.

“It’s what I feel this brief journey would sound in my head.

“(If such a thing is even possible on a boat, enjoy.)”

City version:

 

Memory version: