‘To almost nothing: an unnatural silence in the air’: documenting an exploration of the sounds of extinction and the creation of a cross-species work

What does extinction sound like? A final screech in the hands of hunters? A recorded sound trapped, stationary, a museum piece in fixed form, its maker denied all avenues of evolution? A gap in the soundscape? An unnatural silence in the air? This paper documents the process of creating a musical work for solo voice and electronics which premiered in the crypt of Glasgow Cathedral. As a composer, my intension was to create a work that reflected bird decline and extinction rooted in the West Highlands of Scotland. My creation process involved listening to the voices of endangered birds, imagining the voices of those already extinct, finding those sounds with the human voice and a human emotional expression within those sounds. Through a creative memorial practice of mimicry and re-imagining of certain bird calls, this piece explores the sonic consequences of extinction and attempts to establish a practice of sonic de-extinction, contributing to and extending geographical interests in soundscape, composed music and creative practice as method.