A Hyelim Kim Project · In Progress · 2026—

Two Geographies, One Breath

두 개의 지리, 하나의 숨

“The rainforest holds one note for an hour; the meadow leaves silence between songs. The daegeum breathes between them.”

Sound map — birdsong at Bathampton Meadows, gradually stretched in time
Sound map · 소리 지도 — birdsong recorded at Bathampton Meadows, Bath, gradually stretched in time until it becomes a drone. Each row is one minute.

The Project

An album and performance project in which the daegeum — the Korean bamboo flute — breathes within soundscapes recorded in the rainforests of Borneo and along the riversides of Bath, England.

The Bornean forest is saturated with sound: an insect holds a single pitch for the better part of an hour; cicadas cry in sliding tones. The meadows of Bath are its opposite — long silences between birdsong, a river running low and steady. This project collects the sounds of both places and connects their density and emptiness through the breath of a bamboo flute.

The insect’s sustained tone becomes a cheong — the reference pitch of Korean traditional music; the cicadas’ glissandi converse with sigimsae ornaments; the slow swelling of the river moves at the pace of a court-music phrase. The natural world here is not a backdrop but a playing partner.

Geography I · Density

Borneo

Rainforest recordings — a space with no silence in it.

  • An insect sustaining a single pitch — nature’s drone
  • Cicadas singing in glissandi
  • Gibbon calls in slow rhythm
  • The dawn chorus, and rain approaching
Geography II · Emptiness

Bath

Riverside recordings — a space made of intervals.

  • Birdsong at Bathampton Meadows
  • The River Avon, low and steady
  • Strong winds swelling like slow waves
  • The quiet of an English meadow

Two Forms, Two Senses of Time

Album · Staying

A Meditative Album

Nearly untouched soundscapes with live daegeum — music for staying inside a place. Minimal processing: choosing, layering, and breath.

Performance · Crossing

A Thirty-Minute Journey

A single crossing from an English riverside into the Bornean forest, with sound transformed live on stage — ending with the bamboo flute alone.

한국어

보르네오의 열대우림과 영국 바스의 강가에서 직접 녹음한 소리풍경 위에서 대금이 숨 쉬는 앨범과 공연 프로젝트.

보르네오의 숲은 소리로 가득 차 있다 — 곤충은 한 음을 몇십 분씩 지속하고, 매미는 음을 미끄러뜨리며 운다. 바스의 초원은 그 반대다 — 새소리 사이에 긴 여백이 있고, 강물은 낮게 흐른다. 이 프로젝트는 두 장소의 소리를 채집해, 그 밀도와 여백 사이를 대나무 관악기의 숨으로 잇는다.

곤충이 유지하는 지속음은 국악의 청(기준음)이 되고, 매미의 글리산도는 시김새와 대화하며, 강물의 부풂은 정악의 긴 호흡과 나란히 흐른다. 자연의 소리는 배경이 아니라 함께 연주하는 상대다.

결과물은 두 가지 시간감각으로 만들어진다: 거의 가공하지 않은 소리풍경에 머무는 명상적 앨범, 그리고 실시간 변형과 함께 두 지리를 건너가는 30분의 공연.

Listen

First sound excerpts and field notes from Borneo and Bath are on their way — recorded at dawn by the river, and in the forest at night.

For performance enquiries and programming:

Enquire →
Field recordings made in Borneo and Bath, England · Project in development, 2026—