Interview with ‘ADrift on The Thames’ producer Karina Townsend

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Earlier this year, we commissioned kayaker, adventurer and creative technologist Karina Townsend to create an underwater Thames soundscape called ‘ADrift’. Karina launched her kayak to capture sounds of the Thames at nighttime. A fascinating watch. Here, Thames21’s Liz Gyekye catches up with Karina to find out how she felt floating down the Thames during nighttime, why she made the film and the challenges she faced, among other things.

What inspired you to make the film?
I’ve led a watery life, swimming and kayaking.

I have hearing loss described as ‘moderate’ and wear hearing aids. Social settings are tiring. Acquired hearing loss creeps up on you and when I got my hearing aids I was astonished at how much natural sound I’d been missing. We talk of ‘hearing loss’ but not ‘listening loss’ and I’m on a mission to listen! Eavesdropping on sounds within rivers and the sea is an amazing and immersive experience and the Thames offers a magnificent opportunity to listen.

Earlier this year I dropped my hydrophones (underwater microphones) into the Thames and broadcast the subaquatic sounds to the world via the internet. This live broadcast on International Dawn Chorus Day quickly drifted into the past. To recapture the experience for Thames21 I’d have to record the sounds and collect images as I drifted.

What challenges you were addressing?
Kayaking on the Thames is for experienced paddlers only. The tidal flow is very strong meaning few dates permitting a drift ‘out and back’.
One must always consider the weather on the day and to get usable recordings I’d need dead calm conditions. Finally, my drift would take place once most river traffic had stopped for the night and, therefore, in the dark bringing extra concerns.

The Port of London’s Tideway Code stipulates strict safety protocols to which all paddlers must adhere.

How you felt when you were doing the ‘float’?
Active paddling would cause drag on my hydrophones resulting in unwanted noise on the recording. Drifting, letting the river control my passage was strangely relaxing as I literally became part of the environment.

Dropping my hydrophones into the glassy water I was immediately transfixed by a multi-dimensional chorus. London’s familiar twinkling skyline was underscored by an uncanny, subaquatic soundtrack – an unfolding, secret cinema just for me. Sound travels further and faster in water than in air so you often hear vessels before you see them. I heard engines of late boats and the moaning of ropes straining with the tide, loud rumbles from the last DLR and Jubilee line trains and lots of pops and bubbles, possibly gas escaping from the muddy sediment or perhaps from fish or molluscs.

How have people reacted?
Comments have ranged from, “wow, so relaxing” to “utterly terrifying”!

People tend to be amazed at the richness of the underwater soundscape. The resulting chorus is composed of sounds of animal, vegetable and mineral, wild and human. What sounds can you hear?

Thank so much Karina. Your film is amazing.

Please view film here (preferably with headphones): https://vimeo.com/985685152