Ultrasonic, the eighth instalment in musician and National Geographic Explorer Stuart Hyatt’s Field Works series, presents a collection of musical responses, composed by an all-star line up of contemporary US ambient and experimental musicians, using field recordings of the federally endangered Indiana Bat as source material. 

What’s most striking about this compilation are the gulfs of difference between each composition. At its most engaging, artists find a playful synchronicity between the natural and the considered; Taylor Deupree and Mary Lattimore similarly map compositions — piano and harp, respectively — to the dense forest of sounds; birds chirping, leaves rustling, atmospheres unfolding.

But for all the romanticism that there is on Ultrasonic, Kelly Moran, Noveller, Christina Vantzou, Sarah Davachi and Felicia Atkinson expose the darker reaches of the woodland with stark minimalism, ear-testing discord and cavernous drone.

2 x Vinyl, LP, Special Edition

Tracklist:
        Dusk    
A1    Eluvium–    Dusk Tempi    6:00
A2    Mary Lattimore–    Silver Secrets    5:16
A3    Jefre Cantu-Ledesma–    Night Swimming 6:08
        Forest    
B4    Machinefabriek–    Kelelawar    3:53
B5    Kelly Moran–    Sodalis    3:39
B6    Taylor Deupree–    Echo Affinity    5:37
B7    Noveller–    A Place Both Wonderful And Strange    4:00
        Field    
C8    Christina Vantzou–    Music For A Room With Vaulted Ceiling    6:09
C9    Sarah Davachi–    Marion    4:15
C10    Félicia Atkinson–    Night Vision, It Touched My Neck    3:20
C11    JAB–    Indiana Blindfold    4:40
        Dawn    
D12    Chihei Hatakeyama–    The Circle    6:37
D13    Ben Lukas Boysen–    Torpor    8:20
D14    Stuart Hyatt, Player Piano–    Between The Hawthorn And Extinction 4:29