Outside The Circle Of Fire

Chris Watson's second CD is a dramatic contrast to the spacious atmospheres of Stepping into the Dark (Touch 27, 1996). Featuring 22 close-up recordings of animals, birds and insect life, Outside the Circle of Fire enlarges our awareness of the sound universe, intimate with voices from the past. There is an intensity here that television pictures cannot conjure. These are the sounds of secret languages, particular events that have been recorded as close up as possible to try and reveal something of their individual beauty, rhythm, eloquence and sheer power. Several of the sounds would be inaudible or radically degraded more than a few meters from the animal. Yet others collectively use the acoustics of their habitat to modulate the message. They exist, however, whether we hear them or not - close up details of signals that are beyond our reach outside the circle of fire.