Modern cities are as much a nuisance as they are inspiring. In his introduction to acoustic ecology, R. Murray Schafer wrote that in an urban soundscape, meaningful sounds could be masked to the extent that an individual’s ‘auditory space’ is drastically reduced. But in The Art of Noises, Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo saw that habituating the human ear to the speed and energy of urban hassle required a new approach to composing music.
That fascination was a starting point for Wacław Zimpel’s new album Train Spotter. He recorded the soundscape of Warsaw, focusing on the rumbling public transport. He visited train stations and caught with the recorder the sound of tram stops or routes; he was looking for sounds with repetitive movements, like vehicles rhythmically reverberating on the tracks, escalators, or lifts.
