Sonologyst – Unexplained Sounds

Artist: Sonologyst
title: Unexplained Sounds
cat: Petroglyph226
keywords: experimental, dark ambient, noise, soundscape
label: Petroglyph Music http://petroglyphmusic.com/

Did you ever go to the weird side of YouTube to be greeted with videos of people recording strange unexplained sounds coming from the sky? If you have been there and you are a sound lover you probably find yourself a fascinating sample source.

The videos are in most cases very real but the source of the sounds are highly speculated. Comments and titles go from suggesting it to be a sound manifestation of the secret High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (better known as HAARP) , or even the voices of heaven who howl down to earth to probably tell that ‘the end is near’.

The lack of explanation (or simply ignoring) by authorities and science only adds more mystery to the phenomena, making it a exciting source for conspiracy theorists and other imaginative folk.

I am one of those sound people who had the idea to sample these sounds, or even asking others to do so to form some compilation with these strange drone like audio happenings.. But as I’m addicted to write for this blog (which consumes time) and probably wasn’t too enthusiastic to actually give it a try and go for it.

Luckily a qualified sound artist named Sonologyst did go for it, and collected a diverse bunch of mysterious unexplained sounds to use them as a instrument source for the creation of new music. Together the producer creates a zone that hangs between music fiction and field-recordings. It’s not going to give any answers, but probably adds more mystery to this series of online X-files.

The album starts with a track covering a mysterious sound that had been captured somewhere over Finland. You can hear it lightly zooming through the (I believe) human generated sounds made by the person who stands out in the air to capture the phenomena.

To me personally this way of presenting the mysterious sound out of context of a panicky video with lots of screaming comments and opinions is a good thing. It makes me feel as if we as listeners are now partaking in some episode of myth busters.
Even though the sound indeed makes a warm tone, it comes across to me here as a simple fraction of a strong wind moving over a landscape. There is nothing alarming or really extraordinary; probably just a little bit of paranoia from the original field-recorder to think it of it as something highly unnatural.

But the recordings that the artist presents in the track named ‘HAARP’ isn’t explainable by just saying that it’s the fraction of wind that creates a tone: this is sounding like nothing we should hear on our normal days through life. The frightening thing of this sound source is that it sounds so unfamiliar which probably fuels so many wild theories explaining the source.

It sounds highly unnatural, almost mechanical like it’s coming from a machine that needs some oil. It wouldn’t be too far fledged to say that it could be the sound of a gigantic space ship hovering above the earth. Sonologyst had cleaned up this sound with care and added
a loop of mystery to it that makes the original alienating sound source more science fictional then it already was on its own.

The next sound experience is created with mysterious sounds captured around Vancouver. This is a real odd one, less mechanic in how it comes across but still sounds like something that is like something unexplainable hovering through the trees. A police siren can also be heard to give this strange sound object more volume in something that is happening beyond our minds. Sonologyst spreads this happening in a very listenable and yet interesting format. It’s like listening to something we don’t understand or can figure out, something that is a bit threatening but treated to be safely listened in a non-threatening way.

The next track is called ‘sound across light’ and comes across as if the original sound source was of a low quality, but Sonologyst knows how to clean it up to give the interested listener a crystal clear peek in what this sound wise was all about. It’s a very strange recording that is not directly place-able to anything. A strange smooth sound of grey movement and at the end there is a reflection that might come close to something that could come from a synthesizer. (Something that concept-wise is probably far from the truth..)

The following track is ‘planetary warning’ which might be a sound source coming from NASA. We can hear some very odd interference coming through (what I believe to be) astronaut communication. It’s like a high sharp frequency that if you listen carefully and ignore the human communication seems to bring much more alien communication to it than it sounded like at the first place. Is that the sound of a baby communicating, or a diapered alien in the fuzzy soundwaves?

The sound used in ‘mermaid’ (which if I read the information right is based on the sounds of a unidentified sound found in the deep sea) is a very interesting one. You have to ignore the human crackles of technology that crackles (although Sonologyst makes it sound warm and charming) , but the ‘mermaid’ sound is a pretty clear thing that is captured here. It makes me think of a sea creature like a whale in pain or one who simply has some humor to create such a strange underwater call of sound. If this really would come from a mermaid it would probably be a pretty ugly one..

The sounds captured in the ‘Arecibo collection’ are reminding me to the ones we heard earlier on in the HAARP track. They are of a different kind though, and has a more sharp edge that I guess is being treated by the Sonologyst in all kinds of ways to analyze all aspects of these strange audio outbursts.

With ‘Andromeda’ the producer and audio fanatic travels deep inside the inner sound world of Andromeda. The output is a very calm piece that almost could be classified as ambient for aliens. Strange but warm minimal tones meet up with a light buzz before going for giving way to a lightweight miniature sound cosmos to explore. It’s a deep work that without all the scientific background could be enjoyed just as it is: Very warm and peace-like fragile moment in time.

The last track on this interesting manipulated sound showcase is one named ‘Sein und Zeit’. The sound that can be heard here are (hopefully) edited to be shaped in a new shape or feel. It sounds quite sharp but not in a painful way. If I had to visually describe what my ears are hearing it would be like something like a sonar based audio broadcast of strange vibrations out to brainwash the world with frequent pulses.

The strangest thing is that I could really feel this track having an effect in my stomach. It kind of chomped into it like a form of toxic audio that seems to cause ripples in he inner fluids. Not very pleasant perhaps, but as it is part of the experiment it rather felt like an exciting reaction.

Does this happen to you too? Do you have any physical side effects listening to these used unexplained sounds manipulated and placed by Sonologyst? You might want to find out by downloading this free experimental sound release:
https://archive.org/details/petroglyph226Sonologyst-UnexplainedSounds
<KN>