Today sees the new sound project for Cities and Memory released to the world – Until We Travel.

“Until We Travel is the biggest ever showcase of the sounds of travel from all over the world.

From the roar of aircraft engines to the hubbub of a busy railway station, the project functions as both a record of how much the sounds of our world have changed in the past 12 months, and a celebration of a potential return to a world in which we’re able to travel to new places and visit and connect with loved ones once again.

Artists from all over the world have remixed and reimagined the sounds of travel, using their own experiences, memories and emotional responses to travelling (especially in the current times) as inspiration.“

I have travelled the world many times over in the past 50 years without ever leaving the confines of my little house.

Even before the pandemic, I have always travelled by listening to the worlds’ radio stations at night. Choosing a country and wandering through it via the local radio stations, is a wonderful way to get a flavour of a place. I’ve travelled to Asia, the Russian Steppes, Africa and the Pacific rim, so now was the time to explore Latin America, and Chile, which I have had a long wish to visit in reality – as good a place as any to begin.

So, starting at Arica on the northern coast, on the night of 28th February, 2021, I zigzagged my way down the 2,653 miles from Coast to Andes, via large cities and small towns, all the way to the southern tip at Punta Arenas. I recorded my journey via small snippets of radio shows, interweaving conversations, talk shows, traditional music and modern, to create a sound collage of the places I’d ‘visited’.

As usual, I took the midi information from the original field recording – #1 : At the bottom of the world –  Punta Arenas airport, and used it as a basis to create the aircraft drone and also a range of ambient atmospheres representing airwaves, wind, cold, deserts, glaciers and mountains. I processed the original field recording and this adds to a ghostly feel, where sound fades in and out as if in a dream. My journey in radio is a sonic record of my travels from sea to mountain, from Peruvian border to Punta Arenas. At my destination, an Andean pipe welcomes me and I drift gently back to reality.

The result is 2,653 Miles via the Airwaves.

Since this journey, I have listened to the sounds of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador and will shortly be exploring the 3,976 miles of the Amazon river all via the means of airwaves. It’s the only way to travel.