BIG TWIG TUNNEL TAPES released by Jay Critchley features original field recordings from the $20 billion highway project, recorded before tunnels opened to traffic.
On three occasions shortly before Boston’s Big Dig opened the I-93 southbound tunnel to traffic in December 2003, Jay Critchley, Timothy O’Keefe and a small cadre of singers, musicians, photographers, videographers and curios descended into its depths 125 feet below the city to record their voices, song, music making and ambient and sampled sound.
This random collection of archeological recordings from the roadway tunnel workplace, access ramps and stairwells includes opera, vocals, percussion, viola, various wind instruments, ululation and a specially written rap song, “Tunnel Vision”. The concept for the project is an ecological one, inspired by the tree-like footprint of this $20 billion roadway, our gluttonous appetite for petroleum, and our war making to defend it.
Six hours of recorded sounds were rough cut and sent out to interested producers, mixologists and composers who created unique interpretations from the sounds of the field recordings. From “Tunnel Tones for Cellphones”, (“Drive-by Polluting”, “SFV [Sports Futility Vehicle]”, “Gridluck”) to the witches of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, from electronic dance mixes to experimental sound pieces and Mozart, Big Twig Tunnel Tapes delights in our underappreciated sonic ecology.
What can the sounds we find and the sounds we make deep inside the earth – inside our buried past – tell us about ourselves and our relationship with the planet? The project’s environmental theme explores our connection to the earth and our need to create a truly sustainable future.
Performers
Rachel Smith, Jay Critchley, Serena Andrews, Jonah Rapino, Stephanie McGuire
Video/Photography
Roberto Ugalde, Jay Critchley, Lydia Eccles, Kathy Chapman, Timothy O’Keefe
Producers
Jeffrey Alexander, Timothy O?Keefe, Ryan Rooney, Andrew Sawtelle, Adam R. Wadsworth, Chris Warren
Graphic Design
Timothy O’Keefe