A Closer Listen
fish point is a gorgeous meditation on place and time, one that bemoans what has been lost and celebrates what still exists. Recorded in Portland, Maine, the set teems with the sounds of water and wildlife, but also reflects the proliferation of industrial sounds and the slow dissolution of everything that made Fish Point so appealing in the first place.
After reading the liner notes, one might separate the history of the area into layers. First is the natural layer of tides and waves, fish and birds, still apparent beneath the bustle. Then the first wave of intrusion, early buildings that have since been demolished. And finally, the transformation of the 68-acre area, where commerce now mingles with luxury. To read E. Jason Gibbs listing foxes, rabbits, woodchucks and weasels is to be enchanted; to read about rats and unhoused people at the waterfront is to be disenchanted. Multiple persons live in the shadow of condominiums, movements restricted by “No Access” signs. While fisherman and ferries still crisscross Casco Bay, yachts, cruise ships and “paddling tourists” represent the frightening turnover. A bird cry at 17:57 sounds like the prelude to a scream.
To play the album is to listen to all things at once: electrical currents, lapping waves, mechanical churn, swooping birds. The soundscape brings to light the contrast between the natural and the imposed. In the hands of Gibbs, it also serves as an elegy; as a resident, the artist borne witness to the entire catastrophe, which continues to unfold. Having visited the area myself (20 years ago), I am also saddened by the simple thought that access to the most beautiful areas has been restricted, and that even those areas may be less beautiful than they once were. While listening, one yearns to hear more wings and waves, in the same way as one visits in order to experience the fullness of nature – not what humanity has made it. At the same time, one acknowledges that the recording itself is a thing of beauty, and that amid all the static and engines, one can still glean a slice of the original biophany. All is not lost; it is only, as this CD underlines, headed in the wrong direction. (Richard Allen)
Fri May 23 00:01:40 GMT 2025