Grounding

Jeffrey Ralton Moore

Grounding (2020) is a soundprint sequence of 12 minutes in which rock landforms from the Four Corners region are heard as verses, voices in conversation, trembling in resonance with the forces of the Earth. Landforms heard include Sipapu Bridge in the heart of Bears Ears; Rainbow Bridge, the sacred passage; Sunset Arch framing Navajo Mountain; and Castleton Tower, a sentinel of change. As the landforms speak in turn, the sonorous presence of Bridge Canyon is heard beneath. The audio consists of ambient vibration recordings made between 2015 and 2020 using seismometers. The frequencies of each landform combine to create a seismic voice transmitted through the Earth in an unending hum. The ambient recordings are speeded up to make these normally infrasonic tones audible.