What is our house trying to tell us?

In this episode we turn our attention to those creaks, squeaks, buzzes and pops that build our daily soundtracks. What are those everyday sounds we often overlook? How often do you stop and really listen?

**************************Whenever travelling in a new place it’s easy for our attention to be hijacked by the grandiose: the British Museum, Tower of London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge. End to end, our flat is a modest 32 footsteps. At first, when we paused to listen closer, all we heard were random, almost opaque, individual noises, but as we refocussed our attention — maybe as we plodded into lockdown, maybe as we fell into restlessness and insomnia, maybe as the world we knew ground to a stop — patterns of composition, harmony and story took shape. And it was the familiarity of these stories that comforted me, despite having never listened to them before. I found a grounded counterpoint in an emerging world that isn’t mine (or yours, for that matter — it is too much to say here it’s now the virus’s). For me, lockdown is like sleepwalking though a restless Dream-Wake hybrid world punctuated by fatigue, insomnia and curious dreams that, dull at their edges and obtuse and fractured, create No Time. And I’m not alone, lockdown has spawned a world-wide epidemic of weird, mysterious and self-contradictory dreams. In this soundscape, ‘32 Footsteps’, we explore, and in part decipher, the mental and physical landscapes of London during lockdown. Through the intricacies and half-spaces of a recurring dream about leaving a house — any house, my house, your house — we attempt to uncover the overlooked stories of our homes.

A huge thanks to:Unregistered Master Builder: master-builder.squarespace.com/#introMarkus J Buehler: https://soundcloud.com/user-275864738Justin Mullins: https://audiodesire.comBBC: bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/

London Improvisers Orchestrahttp://www.londonimprovisersorchestra.co.uk/Bandcamp: https://londonimprovisersorchestra.bandcamp.comFacebook: @londonimprovisersorchestra

Sound Design at Greenwichhttps://blogs.gre.ac.uk/sounddesign/Facebook: @SoundGreenwichSoundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sound-design-at-greenwich

Listen, Subscribe, Rate and Review (we’re available on seven platforms)Spotify: https://bit.ly/SpotifyLDNbyLockdownApple: https://bit.ly/AppleLDNbyLockdownStitcher: https://bit.ly/StitcherLDNbylockdownPodchaser: https://bit.ly/PodchaserLDNbyLockdownSoundcloud: https://bit.ly/SoundcloudLDNbyLockdownTuneIn: https://bit.ly/tuneinLDNbyLockdowniHeart Radio: https://bit.ly/iHeartRadioLDNbyLockdown

ArticlesCoronavirus has created an epidemic of weird dreams: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/coronavirus-dreams-sleepWhy is Ryanair taking to the skies when there’s nowhere to fly?: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/ryanair-refunds-coronavirus-flightsTransition Events (excerpt from my novel set in a hybrid Sleep­–Wake world where nothing is as it seems): http://www.craiggarrett.online/portfolio/transition-events/

Contact us:Facebook: @CraigsAudioWorks Twitter & Instagram: @LDNbylockdown