Rodolphe Alexis – Sempervirent

Rodolphe Alexis

CD – Gruenrekorder
In this release for Gruenrekorder, Rodolphe Alexis, a Parisian experimental sound artist and designer, accustomed to the manipulation of field recordings and meticulous editing, has created stereo sequences using parabolic quadraphonic microphones. These recordings were captured mainly in parks, forests and natural reserves in Costa Rica and surrounding Central American countries. They are sometimes left in their original state and sometimes processed. Besides being used for this album, other versions have been used to enrich multichannel sound installations or spatialized real time emissions. There is a strong biodiversity in the areas visited: a union of ecosystems rich in animal and plant species, some of them on the verge of extinction. Thus, the flow is dominated by a variety of natural sounds: crickets, screaming monkeys, exotic birds, frogs and insects. The artist has tuned in to the most unusual sounds, stressing the extreme richness and variety, and benefitting from the attention paid to environmental issues by the authorities of the countries involved. The habitats are still strongly impacted by human activities, but here this influence seems to disappear and the spotlight is on specific ecological niches. The ten recordings were collected in just two months and describe the passing of days in the passages of sounds and latitudes, making clear the quality and peculiarities of the contexts investigated.