WE’LL MISS THIS WHEN WE’RE ON MARS: THE ANIMAL BLESSING

20.05.2021
‘We’ll miss this when we’re on mars’ is an expanding field recording collection of sounds from earth: city noise, the mixing of human and non-human life and surrounding environments, forces of nature, accidental music, moments of joy. The more you listen the more you hear the rhythm.

In ‘the animal blessing’, an idiosyncratic choir of barking, meowing, chirping punctuates a sermon - in a unique ritual commemorating the human-nonhuman relationship. The extract is from a field recording of the 34th Feast of Saint Francis at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The annual service involves a grand Procession of Animals including a giant tortoise, goats, sheep, rabbits, swans, owls and others. Locals bring their pets and animal companions to line up for a blessing.