Raw field recordings from Croatia and Montenegro in August 2023.

Best listened to through headphones.

1_End of a power cut in a heavy thunderstorm, recorded from a small apartment balcony on an 11th-floor in an old Yugoslavian tower block. We were woken by the sound of thunder and the apartment emergency lighting clicking on. I lifted the shutter to our balcony and opened the door just enough to poke the microphones out, recording the storm as it began to subside. 4 am Igalo, Montenegro 08/05/23

2_Early morning cicadas over a car park to a large apartment complex, people packing their cars to head to the beach. Above the apartments up a steep mountainside, full of olive trees, the main coast road. Petrovac, Montenegro 08/07/23

3_Under a thick vine that shaded the entire walkway. Light came through in little spots that moved in the wind. Budva Citadel, Montenegro 08/07/23

4_Hermann’s tortoise slowly moves over dry leaves at the Roman mosaic. Surrounded by small apartment blocks and an old olive grove now used as a car park for the apartments. We walked here to see the mosaic but while we were looking, we heard a rusting in the leaves behind us. A tortoise slowly moved down the bank towards some watermelon someone had left out. Petrovac, Montenegro 08/13/23

5_House martins swooping out of a vast abandoned hotel, the concrete structure towered over one-half of the bay. I set the microphones up directly beneath the hotel next to one of the old construction cranes that had collapsed. The area in front of the hotel is now used as a car park for the beach and the first few people were just starting to drive down and park. 7 am Perazica Do beach, Montenegro 08/14/23

6_Waves splashing against rocks late afternoon after a hot day. This spot was along a footpath that went around a headland facing back at the town. This headland created a narrow entrance to the old town harbour and was busy with tourist boats, each time a boat went by the wakes would overlap and eventually hit the rocks. Cavtat, Croatia 08/22/23

7_People sitting and chatting while eating their lunch on a concrete swimming platform looking out to the old harbour. We sat at the back of the platform with the path above us busy with people walking. Cavtat, Croatia 08/22/23

8_Alpine Swifts swooping from the end of the Harbour Wall. The sun had just risen enough over the top of the mountains behind us to hit the end of the harbour. It was still quiet, with just a couple of fishermen and some people taking photos of St. Nedjelija Church on the tiny islands a few hundred metres out to sea. 6 am Petrovac, Montenegro, 08/10/23

9_Walking back from Trebjesa Nature Park, to shelter as a thunderstorm moves towards us down from the surrounding mountains, the first spits of rain just arrived as we walked. Niksic, Montenegro 08/18/23