an exercise where I invite listeners to stop what they are doing, listen and to enjoy the experience

(unedited improvised narration)

Listening is at the heart of this season of the conscient podcast. Specifically, listening to the sounds of modernity, but also listening to everything, all at once and noticing what is going on, usually a mix of systems collapse and resilient beauty. 

So today’s episode is a listening exercise. At the end of this recording I invite you to stop what you are doing for a few minutes and listen to what is around you. 

Try not to think or analyse what you hear. Just note what is happening and enjoy the experience. Try to let the sounds enter your body without passing judgment. Just listen. I invite you to stay where you are or move around. 

I’ll give you an example from where I am right now. It’s 5.30 am on May 17, 2023. I’m in an apartment in Montreal. I’m hearing a thin tic toc sound at a distance. Behind that I hear a faint birdsong outside the apartment. I also hear my voice reverberating in this room and the sound of my breath. I also hear and feel the sound of my blood passing through my veins. The more I listen the more I hear and feel connected to this space and this moment. 

I’m not listening to modernity. 

I am modernity. 

*

This listening exercise was recorded on my iphone (poor sound quality) at 5.30am on May 16th, 2023 (I made a mistake and said May 17 on the recording) in one take in mp 3 format.

I wrote the script a few minutes before recording it. I did not edit the recording or add the ‘bell and breath’ at the top. I wanted it to be from that moment, ‘as is’, in the spirit of the exercise. 

I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this episode. (including all the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation and infrastructure that make this podcast possible).

My gesture of reciprocity for this episode is to NAISA, New Adventures in Sound Art.