Swiss Mountain Transport Systems, Radio Version

Soundwork by Ernst Karel

“Swiss Mountain Transport Systems” consists of location recordings made during the summer and fall of the various transport systems which are specific to mountainous terrain – gondolas (aerial cable cars), funiculars, and chairlifts – of different types, of different vintages, and accessing different elevations, in different parts of switzerland. In this way the album is a sonic investigation of the integration of such technology into the swiss social-geographical landscape. Recorded from within mostly enclosed mobile environments, this emergent music includes mechanical drones, intermittent percussiveness, and transient acoustic glimpses of a vast surrounding landscape inhabited by humans and other animals.