Aug 7 2024 - The Angry Tree Pantheon
Aug. 10th, 2024 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eerietomI took my tincture and headed for the OHSU Hospital at the upper tram station. I hadn’t been up there in a while, and as it was a bit warm that day, I didn’t really feel like going for a hike. I got a coffee from one of the cafes in the hospital, then sat in the big observation lobby looking towards the VA Clinic.
I listened to three albums on my phone:
I suddenly fancied these sounds were made by the trees themselves, like I could hear them “speaking”. This may seem incongruous; trees are generally beautiful and serene, right? But why does their language have to be gentle, murmuring Enya-esque sounds?
Click image for larger view; opens in new window.
There was one tree on top, slightly higher than the rest. Seeing all the trees so assembled made me think they were a pantheon of tree gods on a sort of natural acropolis. Was the highest tree their leader, their Zeus?
Even with my headphones on, I could still hear the ambient sounds in the lobby around me: the sounds of the elevators, of people talking, of their footsteps. The treetalk was part of this soundscape, and it seemed like it should be perfectly audible to everyone else. So why could only I hear them?
The Merzbow music was harsh and dissonant, sounding angry and violent, which contrasted strongly with the serene, unmoving picture before me. Were the trees angry? Were they about to attack? Were they talking to each other or screaming at me? Were they all talking, or just the Zeustree?
A few of the trees looked like very abstracted Godzillas seen from the side, with their branches vaguely resembling the plates on Godzilla’s back and tail. Was this some kind of Batesian-mimicry, an attempt to deter the work of lumberjacks and construction crews?
At one point I turned my head to the left to look at the Ross Island Bridge and some of the buildings of the South Waterfront. At that moment, the music suddenly became even louder and harsher. Just a coincidence, of course, but it was as if the trees were protesting these artificial constructs!
It’s funny how trees seem to play a recurring theme in my stonings, from the Moai Trees to the Meta-Pine.
I listened to three albums on my phone:
- Trans, Neil Young, 1983
- Pulse Demon, Merzbow, 1996
- KooKoo, Debbie Harry, 1981
I suddenly fancied these sounds were made by the trees themselves, like I could hear them “speaking”. This may seem incongruous; trees are generally beautiful and serene, right? But why does their language have to be gentle, murmuring Enya-esque sounds?
Click image for larger view; opens in new window.
There was one tree on top, slightly higher than the rest. Seeing all the trees so assembled made me think they were a pantheon of tree gods on a sort of natural acropolis. Was the highest tree their leader, their Zeus?
Even with my headphones on, I could still hear the ambient sounds in the lobby around me: the sounds of the elevators, of people talking, of their footsteps. The treetalk was part of this soundscape, and it seemed like it should be perfectly audible to everyone else. So why could only I hear them?
The Merzbow music was harsh and dissonant, sounding angry and violent, which contrasted strongly with the serene, unmoving picture before me. Were the trees angry? Were they about to attack? Were they talking to each other or screaming at me? Were they all talking, or just the Zeustree?
A few of the trees looked like very abstracted Godzillas seen from the side, with their branches vaguely resembling the plates on Godzilla’s back and tail. Was this some kind of Batesian-mimicry, an attempt to deter the work of lumberjacks and construction crews?
At one point I turned my head to the left to look at the Ross Island Bridge and some of the buildings of the South Waterfront. At that moment, the music suddenly became even louder and harsher. Just a coincidence, of course, but it was as if the trees were protesting these artificial constructs!
It’s funny how trees seem to play a recurring theme in my stonings, from the Moai Trees to the Meta-Pine.
