Creators are told you have just a couple seconds to hook your audience. I guess I’m more the catch-and-release type. The first seconds of my soundwalks often feature the sound of footsteps. It should come as no surprise; it is a soundwalk after all. It might be a set-up for a narrative arc, but hardly a hook. Kelley Point Soundwalk, out today, is the most quiet of this batch, and perhaps a love it or hate it proposition. The recording is hyper-focused on the lapping water of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers on a nearly windless day. It’s riparian ASMR—you know, that whole niche video genre of people whispering that seems to inspire tingles in some and guffaws in others? I recorded this soundwalk dangling a stereo microphone like a fishing lure from a four foot stick, just inches above the water. It captures all the slaps, slurks, sploinks, and splashes of the shoreline. It captures my footsteps too. It’s a lot to take in at first.
The instrumentation on Kelley Point Soundwalk is pretty spartan. Piano, harp, and celeste passages play out loosely, like the water. Occasional string arrangements add some gravitas. The melody just kind of builds in an iterative way. There’s some long, wobbly synth drones. It’s all very reflective. So let’s reflect…