“Bodily sounds – the rushing of the blood, the beating of the heart, the gurgles of the digestive tract – are not merely perceptible to a foetus in utero, but heard, loud and clear.” This gestational soundscape can register as loud as 88 decibels, and might begin to explain why so many of us find serenity in drawn-out tones. In the book, he suggests that the human attraction to persistent noise begins in the womb. Published earlier this year, music writer Harry Sword’s Monolithic Undertow took readers on a journey across the history and cultural context of drones in music and the world. The many branches of drone as a genre of music can launch a listener into a meditative state – even a particularly abrasive noise concert is said to provide comfort to an audience in search of catharsis. Today, drone-based ASMR video playlists are advertised as productivity hacks, while traditional sound meditation practices such as gong baths have seen a significant rise in popularity. On a basic level, they’re just long-held or continuous notes and tone clusters, but the belief that these sounds hold some transformative power spans communities, continents and generations. Drones have existed in sound-making for centuries.
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