Label: SAAMLENG

マングローブ林環境音!!ポーランドにて電子音楽家として、またアンビエント及びシューゲイズ・バンドの一員として活動するTomek Mirt。並行して長年フィールドレコーディストとしても活動を続けてきた人物で、その成果を定期的にプライベートレーベルSaamlengより音源として発表。本作は氏が長年取り組んでいるタルタオ島のフィールドレコーディングであるものの、非常に独特な音環境を持つというマングローブ林にフォーカスした録音。海と陸の境界が曖昧な場所の特殊な生態サウンドが興味深く、約100時間分の記録から厳選した6種の音源を収録。







Looking at a map of Tarutao, it becomes clear how small a portion of the island we actually explored. Countless times we traveled the road from Ao Pante Malca to Ao Talo Wao, where it eventually dissolves into dense forest, but this stretch covers barely a third of the island’s length. I have little doubt that what we recorded previously reflects a significant portion of the island’s forest soundscape, at least during the dry season. On the other hand, I am also certain there are places on Tarutao that would yet surprise us with entirely distinct sonic environments—sometimes fleeting and highly specific, dependent on the time of day and precise location, like two tall rocks where waves reverberate only at high tide, or hidden creeks and waterfalls.

Until now, one such hidden environment has been the mangrove forests. These are places where the boundary between sea and land begins to blur, and where the soundscape softens compared to the lively inland forests. Subtle yet clearly perceptible tidal movements become a defining sonic marker, dividing time as distinctly as day and night. This album presents a selection from nearly 100 hours of recordings made in December 2025 and January 2026 within one such forest in the northern part of Tarutao. The material was captured using a drop rig that recorded continuously over four days in multiple locations, without our direct presence.

As in earlier sessions, where a concrete road granted us limited access to inland forest, here we worked along a branching river system that offered similarly partial entry into a far more uniform terrain, a dense lattice of fragile roots submerged in a waterlogged, unstable swamp.

Mangroves were not new to us, but during our previous encounters—brief kayak excursions—we barely scratched the surface. This time, we spent long hours on the water searching for promising locations, venturing further than before, navigating around fallen trees, racing against the tides, and trying to identify places where animals regularly return.

The narrow northern edge of the island offers little acoustic shelter, leaving the mangroves exposed to the sounds of passing fishing boats. Although boat traffic seemed unusually heavy during our stay, it dropped off significantly around New Year’s, allowing us to capture extended passages free from anthropogenic noise.

Much of the recorded material reveals a relatively uniform soundscape. The selections included here emphasize more distinctive moments: the sound of the constant flow of water flooding the swamp during high tide, and of air reclaiming the space as the water recedes; the calls of birds and geckos, which emerge more as soloists than as part of a continuous chorus. We excluded the longer fragments dominated by gusting sea winds, which tended to obscure finer sonic details.