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Difficulty: Advanced (AMEB Grade 8+)
Length: 6:50 approx.
Recording link below for reference.
The smell of salt water saturates my home in Western Australia. It permeates the air, the buildings, the wind. It gets in your hair and your eyes and your mouth.
At a microlevel, the smell of saltwater is caused by a combination of decomposition and chemical reactions. Marine worms and algae produce bromophenols, which give salt air its iodine quality. Bacteria consume dead phytoplankton, which produces the chemical dimethyl sulphide. And at low tide, seaweed eggs release the sex pheromone dictyopterenes to attract sperm.
It amuses me that my nostagia is actually the smell of decomposition and pheromones. This work is a reflection on the macro and the micro. On the macro it sits still: a deep breath in and out. On a micro-level it bubbles, a combination of tiny reactions and movements bouncing.
Written for Duo Alterity in 2019. Recorded by Issie Brown and Matthew Withers for Eliza Shephard’s March of the Women in 2024.
Difficulty: Advanced (AMEB Grade 8+)
Length: 6:50 approx.
Recording link below for reference.
The smell of salt water saturates my home in Western Australia. It permeates the air, the buildings, the wind. It gets in your hair and your eyes and your mouth.
At a microlevel, the smell of saltwater is caused by a combination of decomposition and chemical reactions. Marine worms and algae produce bromophenols, which give salt air its iodine quality. Bacteria consume dead phytoplankton, which produces the chemical dimethyl sulphide. And at low tide, seaweed eggs release the sex pheromone dictyopterenes to attract sperm.
It amuses me that my nostagia is actually the smell of decomposition and pheromones. This work is a reflection on the macro and the micro. On the macro it sits still: a deep breath in and out. On a micro-level it bubbles, a combination of tiny reactions and movements bouncing.
Written for Duo Alterity in 2019. Recorded by Issie Brown and Matthew Withers for Eliza Shephard’s March of the Women in 2024.