Orkestrafria - Erosion/Disappearance

A Closer Listen

The Erosion/Disappearance EP tells a true life tale in abbreviated form, tracing the slow disappearance of land in Atafona on the north coast of Rio de Janeiro. Over the last sixty years, 500 buildings and 14 blocks of the town have been submerged, and the process has accelerated over time. Through field recording and processing, Orkestrafria (Eduardo Bichinho) brings the town to life, even as it sinks.

The EP’s very first sound is an alarm; the residents are being warned that something is coming, and it is time to move inland.  A high-pitched, tinnitus noise invades the sonic territory as the waves begin to stretch their advance.  By mid-piece, the wind and the waves have overtaken even the alarm, which either continues to sound ineffectually or has been drowned, its batteries disabled by salt water.  “Oncoming” is both report and warning; the event has already taken place, but the water continues to rise.  “Onshore” and “Saltation” reflect the effects of wind on sand, the grains moving, piling, making room for more of the sea.

By “Drowning,” the water has become a living character, flowing around the protruding parts of partially-submerged homes, claiming them as its own.  Motor hums are met by the sounds of the ocean, agitated and stirred.  For former residents, it is already too late.  Midway through the piece, what was gentle turns violent, a reminder that it is now unsafe even to visit; no barrier has ever been able to contain the sea, which has a mind of its own and a power beyond reckoning.

Once the LORD proclaimed, “This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt” (Job 38:11).  Humankind altered this sacred pact, first insisting that fossil fuels and deforestation would make no difference, then ignoring and finally denying climate change.  The wreckage of Atafona is only one of many.  Using hydrophones, Bichinho captures the sound of a drowned town; “Submersion” is a grand drone, a disaster of our own making, another warning that may never be heeded.  As politicians argue and the residents of Rio continue to retreat, the water crawls ever higher: impassive, relentless, unrestrained.  (Richard Allen)

Wed Aug 06 00:01:07 GMT 2025