Recorded during a week long residency at the Örö island, Southwest Finland, 7.-14. July 2025.
https://launau.bandcamp.com/album/r-underwater-diary
In these underwater recordings we can hear the sounds of crustaceans and water insects communicating, living their life and taking contact with the hydrophones, as well as plants photosynthesizing, the vibrations of the sea waves hitting the bedrock and the sounds caused by passing motor boats and humans.
The two Balget bay tracks are recorded in the Baltic Sea water, whereas the pond recordings are made in very small ponds that have been formed by the ice age and erosion on the bedrock, filled with a mixture of rain and salt water or with only rain water.
These small watery areas have an important role in our ecosystem, they are full of life. Geodiversity goes hand in hand with biodiversity. We are so focused on our own point of view that we forget that there is a whole underwater ecosystem with an immense amount of other points of view. We don’t sense the same sound environment they are hearing, we are ignorant of the sounds and vibrations that can be crucial information for them.
It’s an appropriate time to think about authorship when compiling an album of field recordings. To which degree am I an author, and to which degree the organisms I’m recording are that? I am picking precise locations, times, methods, trying to intrude as little as possible, but still I’m an intruder. It’s like holding a magnifying glass over some underwater sounds that we don’t hear in our everyday life. Editing, choosing, cutting the recordings. I feel author enough to put my artist name on this album, and at the same time it feels odd.
I have been doing field recordings since I started as an recording artist – you can hear them on my first album Kuutarha, on later albums like Puutarhassa and Aphrilis, and in almost all my sound installations. But this is my first album based solely on field recordings.
A special thank you for Jan Eerala. I’m grateful that I got to know you and your field recording practice. You are dearly missed. Thank you Jez riley French and Janne Laine, I’ve learnt a lot about field recording while working with you. Thanks to members of Kuuntelukerho, Antti Tolvi, Ulla Taipale, Lotta Petronella, Matti Bye, John Grzinich, Sara Jimenez and Antye Greie who have been inspiring me or invited me in different projects where I have been developing my field recording skills. Thank you for the residency Öres.
Recordings were made with a pair of MonkeySound hydrophones except for the last track which is recorded with a pair of LOM Uši Pro microphones.
released December 10, 2025
All tracks recorded, edited and mastered by Laura Naukkarinen, July 2025.
Released by Kastepiste
kastepiste.bandcamp.com
Track list:
1. Seashore pond at Uuttamo 09:59
2. Evening at the Balget bay 09:31
3. Floating on seaweed at the Balget bay 02:38
4. Sun shines into the seashore pond at Uuttamo 04:30
5. Exploring the hydrophones at the rainwater pond on the southwest hill 04:56
6. Rainwater pond on the southwest hill 08:25
7. Radar at night on Lyssklinten 05:42