Biophonica & Endlings – Evelien van den Broek

Earth’s sixth mass extinction is well under way. For years conservationists have been warning of an event akin to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs – only this time, we are to blame. ‘Biophonica’ is Amsterdam-based composer, performer and producer Evelien van den Broek’s sonic response to this man made “biological annihilation”. Using field recordings of extinct or endangered animals gathered from sound libraries, scientists, and the pioneering soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause, ‘Biophonica’ immerses us in obsolete soundworlds, reconnecting us with our natural environment through sound. Raw, mesmerising and sorrowful music celebrates the wonder, beauty and diversity of nature and its creatures, and mourns their brutal destruction. With music that navigates between electronica and pop, sound art and contemporary classical music.

Biophonica premiered at the November Music festival in 2019, with Evelien performing the electronics and with Mark Nieuwenhuis on trumpet. It was selected as a showcase for Classical:Next (cancelled due to Covid-19), and additional performances took place at the Rewire festival (The Hague) and ADE (Amsterdam) with Allison Wright on trumpet. In 2020 the album Endlings was released, containing the music of the live show Biophonica. The album is available at Bandcamp, in this website’s shop and on all regular online platforms.

Credits Biophonica (live version)

composition, electronics, texts, production evelien van den broek | trumpet, electronics mark nieuwenhuis / allison wright | visuals timo hoogland | bird design sound modules edo paulus | live sound engineer sandor caron | studio production and -mix gijs van klooster | graphic design richard van kruysdijk | mary river turtle photo chris van wyk

Credits Endlings (album version)

all tracks are composed, arranged, and produced by evelien van den broek | text/lyrics: evelien van den broek* | trumpet: mark nieuwenhuis | voice over, synths, sound design, programming: evelien van den broek | trumpet recorded by mark nieuwenhuis | synths and electronics recorded by evelien van den broek | mixed and produced by gijs van klooster at redhouse | mastered by jarno volman at gold soundz mastering | cover design: richard van kruysdijk| cover design photo: chris van wyk

Additional credits: Field recordings on track ‘I Rainforest’ by Bernie Krause, PhD. © 2021 Wild Sanctuary. All Rights Reserved. www.wildsanctuary.com. *Text fragment on track ‘I Rainforest’ by Stephen Leahy from National Geographic. Field recordings on track ‘III The Last Northern White Rhinoceros’ provided by Dr. Ivana Cinková of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Palacký University Olomouc. Field recordings on track ‘IV The Blue Whale’ from Freesound: https://freesound.org/people/jhumbucker/sounds/193822, Blue Whale B call @ 5x by MBARI_MARS ©2020 Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Deep Sea Ambience by jhumbucker, and Blue whale calls in the Antarctic by the Australian Antarctic Division. Field recordings on track ‘V The Last Kauai ‘O ‘O bird’ C. by Fred Zeillemaker/Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab (ML6049, www.macaulaylibrary.org)

Thanks to: Dr. Ivana Cinková, Dr. Bernie Krause, Chris van Wyk, Gijs van Klooster, Richard ‘Darwin’ Ayres, Christina Viola Oorebeek, Edith Eymann and Splendor. Biophonica is financially supported by the Performing Arts Fund NL, Edith Eymann and Evelien van den Broek.