Amy Martin: This is one of the most magical Amy Martin: sounds ever heard. Amy Martin: I didn't know that the planet Amy Martin: could make this sound. Amy Martin: It's utterly surreal and Amy Martin: totally beautiful. Amy Martin: I'm standing next to a large Amy Martin: heart shaped lake in northern Amy Martin: Sweden. Amy Martin: It's late October. Amy Martin: Light is getting scarce. Amy Martin: Temperatures have been dropping Amy Martin: and the ice has been growing.
Amy Martin: Slowly transforming this Amy Martin: lake into a giant Amy Martin: drum. Amy Martin: All of this sound is just Amy Martin: echoing from it. Amy Martin: There's this thin layer of ice Amy Martin: and the sun's hitting it. Amy Martin: And there's Amy Martin: nothing moving, nothing is Amy Martin: doing that. It's making that Amy Martin: sound itself. Amy Martin: Instead of sticks or mallets.
Amy Martin: This drum is played by rays Amy Martin: of sunlight, warming Amy Martin: the ice ever so slightly, Amy Martin: making the glassy surface hum Amy Martin: and howl as it flexes Amy Martin: and bends and Amy Martin: sometimes suddenly cracks. Amy Martin: In between some of our episodes Amy Martin: this season, we're going to Amy Martin: release these short interludes, Amy Martin: little listening adventures Amy Martin: like this encounter with a Amy Martin: singing lake.
Amy Martin: I didn't go looking for this Amy Martin: experience. Amy Martin: My partner and I pulled up to Amy Martin: his family's cabin for a get Amy Martin: together, and as soon as Amy Martin: I opened the door, I heard Amy Martin: this ghostly sound Amy Martin: and I moved toward it like Amy Martin: a moth drawn to a flame.
Amy Martin: For people who've grown up Amy Martin: around lakes that freeze every Amy Martin: winter, this sound Amy Martin: might be interesting, Amy Martin: but not unexpected. Amy Martin: I'm not one of those people. Amy Martin: I was mesmerized. Amy Martin: It was completely unlike Amy Martin: anything I'd ever heard Amy Martin: produced in nature before. Amy Martin: Part of what made it so magical Amy Martin: was how still everything was. Amy Martin: Nothing appeared to be moving.
Amy Martin: It was just the same ice Amy Martin: covered lake I'd seen and Amy Martin: skied on before. Amy Martin: Except it was singing. Amy Martin: It was like the lake had a Amy Martin: hidden talent that it had Amy Martin: just decided to reveal. Amy Martin: My nephew Walter thought it was Amy Martin: pretty cool, too. Amy Martin: He was three at the time and he Amy Martin: came down to the lake shore to Amy Martin: listen with me while I was Amy Martin: recording.
Amy Martin: We stood there together in the Amy Martin: pale afternoon light, Amy Martin: wide eyed and breathless. Walter: Isen låter så! Amy Martin: The ice sounds like that, he Amy Martin: says. Walter: Popcorn! Poppade popcorn i isen! Amy Martin: Popcorn is popping in the ice. Walter: De låter så mycket. De skriker. De är ledsen. De är ledsen. Amy Martin: They're singing so much, he Amy Martin: says. Amy Martin: They're shouting. Amy Martin: They're sad.
Amy Martin: I Amy Martin: love how the ice went from Amy Martin: an it to a they for Amy Martin: Walter. Amy Martin: How listening to the lake Amy Martin: turned it into a being for him. Amy Martin: Something animate. Amy Martin: Our planet is 4.5 billion Amy Martin: years old. Amy Martin: And in our first episode, Amy Martin: I talked about how for most Amy Martin: of that time there were no Amy Martin: living things capable of making Amy Martin: or receiving a sound.
Amy Martin: But there are some big Amy Martin: assumptions baked into that Amy Martin: framework, Amy Martin: like what a living thing Amy Martin: even is. Amy Martin: In fact, the whole concept Amy Martin: of dividing the world into Amy Martin: living and non-living stuff, Amy Martin: that's just one paradigm. Amy Martin: There are other ways to think Amy Martin: about these things. Amy Martin: So what do you consider Amy Martin: to be alive?
Amy Martin: I'm guessing animals are an Amy Martin: easy yes and plants. Amy Martin: Probably fungi, microbes. Amy Martin: What about the rocks those Amy Martin: microbes make? Amy Martin: Or soil. Amy Martin: What about a river Amy Martin: or a lake? Amy Martin: To be alive on this planet, Amy Martin: do you have to be an organism? Amy Martin: An individual?
Amy Martin: Long before humans or Amy Martin: any other creatures evolved, Amy Martin: long before anything on earth Amy Martin: had a mouth or an ear, Amy Martin: countless lakes came Amy Martin: and went. Amy Martin: Freezing and melting and Amy Martin: freezing again. Amy Martin: And whether or not we consider Amy Martin: them to be alive, they Amy Martin: just keep singing.