Broken Spectre by Ben Frost
A powerful message, which everyone must hear
Don't be fooled by the bird song and tropical sounds, Broken Spectre isn't an Ambient album to aid mindful contemplation. Ben Frost’s first studio album in five years incorporates genuine field recordings of Brazilian Amazon's fauna to sound track the devastating effects of deforestation and the resulting climate crisis. It makes for uncomfortable listening. For example, the bird call on The Burning World is nothing less than deeply haunting. Frost used clever technology to record the sound of animals, bats and insects of the jungles, 90% of which are normally beyond the human range of hearing, and pitched the recordings down so we can appreciate sounds we would never hear. It's a strong metaphor for a serious issue which many are aware of but never really see or experience in real life. The ultimate message: we need to do something about these environmental crimes now or these sounds will literally never be heard again.
Broken Spectre (a pun on Brocken Spectre) accompanies the new Richard Mosse exhibition of photographs and harrowing 70 minute film by Trevor Tweeten (currently running in London's 180 The Strand gallery)