The Frozen Wild: An Antarctic Expedition

 

A couple of years ago I watched and read a ton on Ernest Shackleton, the English Explorer who went to Antarctica 3 times. One of those was a journey that saw his ship, Endurance, get stuck in the ice and then crushed by the ice, leaving the crew of 27 adrift on an ice floe.

After 6 months of drifting they made their way in the ship's boats to Elephant Island. Shackleton and five crewmates set sail in one of the boats to South Georgia island, a journey of 800 miles (1,300 kilometres) through the Southern Ocean. 

 

Launching from Elephant Island

 

After a 17-day voyage, the crew and small boat reached the southern coast of South Georgia. Historians regard the voyage of the crew in a 22.5-foot (6.9 m) ship's boat through the "Furious Fifties" as one of the greatest small-boat journeys ever completed.

Shackleton and two others crossed the island's mountains on foot to a whaling station where they organized the rescue of the rest of the crew. Ultimately, the entire Endurance crew returned home, without loss of life. 

Welp, I hadn't intended on writing that much about Shackleton but it's such an amazing story. That was two years ago when I learned about Shackleton. Fast forward to today & I'm reading a book called "Antarctica" by Kim Stanley Robinson which has rekindled my fascination with the continent. I have now learned about Amundsen and his trek to the pole. And about Scott's tragic expedition in which he made it to the pole but froze to death on the way back. A surviving member of Scott's crew wrote a book about a part of the trip with a great title - "The Worst Journey in the World."

Oof, that was a long-winded way of saying that I have had Antarctica on the brain lately. Of course, I had to create a mix to go with my obsession. One way to approach this mix would be to use atmospheric dub tracks. A lot of ambient dub music uses environmental themes and cold, arctic imagery. I thought that was the direction I was going to go until I stumbled on a bunch of tracks from William Ryan Fritch. He had a ton of great titles that fit perfectly, such as "On Frozen Ground" & "Ghosts in the Gale". And a couple of new tracks, "Blistering Wind" & "A Fissure Too Wide", are from his new album, Polarity, coming out this week. 

After hearing those tracks I decided to go with a more organic sound. It seemed to fit better when thinking of journeys happening between 1905 to 1917. There are some electronics and synths that show up but generally, the mix has a more acoustic, orchestral feel. 

The track titles show how the mix will take the listener on a journey that is a composite of many expeditions in Antarctica. The track by Irezumi is called Endurance, the name of Shackleton's ship. He uses some spoken word in the track that I assume is supposed to be Shackleton. The mix finishes with a whispering wind and the beautiful track "Before My Time" with vocals from Scarlett Johansson and lyrics that work well with the theme.

Bundle up and enjoy this excursion to the bottom of the world.

Cheers!

 

T R A C K L I S T :

• 00:00    Okomotive, Joel Schoch - Sail, my Friend! (FAR: Lone Sails Soundtrack 2018)
• 03:10    Trigg & Gusset - Sea & Wind (Black Ocean 2021)
• 06:00    Ben McElroy - The Sailor and the Albatross (The Word Cricket Made Her Happy 2018)
• 09:45    Ugasanie - Shores Of Antarctica (Ice Breath of Antartica 2018)
• 10:37    Vangelis - Back To Antarctica (Antarctica 1983)
• 12:10    John Luther Adams - The Farthest Place (The Light that Fills the World 2002)
• 15:10    Seabuckthorn - There Was A Vastness (And Spark And Singe 2021)
• 17:35    William Ryan Fritch - On Frozen Ground (The Old Believers 2017)
• 19:22    Terje Isungset - Ice Beauty (Igloo 2006)
• 22:00    William Ryan Fritch - Ghosts In The Gale (Ill Tides 2016)
• 23:54    Tim Hecker - Left on the Ice (The North Water 2021)
• 27:23    Jóhann Jóhannsson & Hildur Guðnadóttir & Rutger Hoedemaekers - Trapped (Trapped 2019)
• 28:44    From the Mouth of the Sun - Snow Burial(while blue skies gather) (Woven Tide 2012)
• 31:48    John Luther Adams - Dream in White on White (The Far Country 1999)
• 36:00    Staalklang - The White Plains (The Loneliness of a Polar Expedition Pt 2 2021)
• 39:20    Tom Heasley - Adrift (Waves/Adrift)
• 41:40    William Ryan Fritch - Blistering Wind (Polarity 2023)
• 48:08    William Ryan Fritch - A Fissure Too Wide (Polarity 2023)
• 49:15    Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin - Death Bed (Beasts of the Southern Wild 2012) 
• 50:20    Irezumi - Endurance IV (Endurance 2008)
• 54:18    William Ryan Fritch - A Sad Whispering Wind II (Her Warmth 2016)
• 57:42    J. Ralph & Scarlett Johansson - Before My Time (Chasing Ice 2012)
• 61:22    end