Sonic Faction, 127–146

Chapter

A Marker

EXCERPT

The following passages are drawn from transcripts of discussions during listening events, in conversation with: Matt Colquhoun, Natasha Eves, and Amy Ireland (online, for k-punk event, 2022), Mattin and Eleni Zervou (following playback of the piece during Mattin’s residency at Cafe Oto, London, 2022), Amy Ireland and Katherine Pickard (following playback at Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York, 2022), Justin Barton and Amy Ireland (first Sonic Faction event at Iklectik, London, 2022), Natasha Eves, Zara Truss Giles, and Kitty McKay (for k-punk event, Fox and Firkin, Lewisham, 2023).

The (Un)Place Itself Over the centuries Dunwich has gone from being an important trading port to being a tiny little village with only one street. Apart from this remainder, the whole town has fallen down the cliffs into the sea as a result of the erosion wrought by the North Sea. Foremost among the lore that has developed around the ill-fated town is a spectral sonic phenomenon: it’s said that, because a number of Dunwich churches have ended up toppling into the sea, sometimes you can hear the eerie sound of church bells clanging beneath the ocean.

Dunwich is a part of the territory both conceptual and geographic covered by Mark Fisher’s book The Weird and Eerie a territory he would go on to explore with Justin Barton in the audio essay On Vanishing Land and in many of his writings. Mark and I both visited Dunwich as children—I remember listening for those waterlogged bells, and relishing the strange atmosphere of this place whose claim to fame is that there’s nothing left of it.…