returning | reeds was created for the return walk along the Humber Bridge as part of the Height of the Reeds event during the City of Culture year in Hull, 2017. The piece uses only the unprocessed recordings of located sound collected over 6 months on and around the bridge in preparation for the project.

The Height of the Reeds was a collaborative ten part, triggered headphone installation on the bridge, commissioned by Hull CoC 2017 and Opera North. (also now available as an album). Someway into the process I was asked to compose an additional work for the return walk. My connection to place is based on durational listening and recording, often using unconventional microphones and devices. For this piece I have tried to convey some elements of this connection to a series of locations that I have known since they were built, and their surroundings.
recordings include various elements of the bridge structure and internal spaces, reed beds and ponds along the banks of the river humber, and traffic along the bridge. many of the recordings used JrF c-series contact
microphones, JrF d-series hydrophones and DPA omni microphones.
this release also includes two bonus tracks not included in either ‘returning | reeds’ or ‘Height of the Reeds’. unedited / unprocessed recordings of the main bridge cables and one of the metal ladders into the anchor space on the north bank.
on several of the recording days my daughter, the artist Pheobe riley Law assisted me with various aspects of the recording process, at the same time making her own recordings and films.  

https://engravedglass.bandcamp.com/album/returning-reeds