Hospitalfield in Arbroath is preparing to host a series of silent bat raves in its grounds, with new dance music that has been created using bat echolocation calls.
Echo in the Dark is a collaboration between British-Finnish artist, composer and performer Hanna Tuulikki and Scottish music producer Tommy Perman.
All kinds of bats
The sounds have been collected with communities in Arbroath, Angus, and across the UK, including species such as soprano pipistrelles, common pipistrelles, Daubenton’s bats and brown long-eared bats.
Hanna says: “In autumn 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, I got an email from Hospitalfield asking if I wanted to make some work around bats because they had been doing bat walks in the local area to create outdoor activities and engage with local audiences.”
Hanna’s work is informed by the relationship between humans and the animal world.
‘We are animals too’
She goes on: “I’m interested in finding alternative ways of being that really challenge ways of thinking about us and nature. We are animals, too.”
A few years previously, she had been out bat detecting and was blown away by the experience, becoming fascinated with the whole navigation system of echolocation.
She explains: “Bats send these pulses out through their mouths and noses in order to build a picture of their environment and their prey, interpreting the echoes that come back. It’s completely mind-blowing.”
A bat detector
Being too high-pitched for humans to hear naturally, using a bat detector, these signals can be converted into audible sound waves, allowing us to tune into detailed rhythms, clicks and buzzes, which could easily be mistaken for samples of electronic dance music.
Hanna goes on: “When you’re using a heterodyne bat detector it translates the sounds real-time into a synthetic version.
“The sound of the pipistrelles, to me, sounded like little samples of dance music. It reminded me of the Roland 303 synth which was the signature sound of acid house.”
Hanna adds there were a lot of stories around the time about the possibility the coronavirus had jumped through bats to an intermediary species: “There was a little bit of fear around bats and I was interested in readdressing that relationship. Bringing all these little threads together, I proposed to make a rave.”
Bat sounds and human voice
All the beats and melodies of the music are made entirely from recordings of bat echolocation calls fused with the sounds of Hanna’s voice.
She says: “There’s definitely a spectrum of sounds within the tracks, so if you know your bat calls you could probably recognise the echolocations within each track. But it also just sounds like dance music!”
The evening raves take place between September 8–10 from 7.30pm-10pm each night.
A ‘bat bar’
A 7-inch EP was released with record label Blackford Hill in July and it’s hoped the event will eventually tour other arts venues with outdoor spaces.
Hanna adds: “People will arrive, there will be a bar where you can get your bat-themed drink, then people will receive their headsets and be guided by a cast of dancers who will lead them into the paddock.
“The rave will take place there under these beautiful trees which will be lit with a laser show and animation.”
hospitalfield.org.uk/visit/events/echo-in-the-dark-hanna-tuulikki/
