Bláth bán ar gharraí an iascaire (white flowers on the fisherman’s garden) is an Irish saying referring to frothing foaming water found at sea in the wake of a boat or churned up by powerful waves (Manchán Magan, Sea Tamagotchi).

Throughout 2020/2021, I often took walks by the coast, and on these occasions, I was always drawn to the sound of the sea as it crashed against the shore. I made numerous field recordings at many different spots along the east coast of Ireland and wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them for a long time. But, a visit to Wexford, a county in the South-East of Ireland and more recording spurned me to bring these recordings together.

For the most part, they undergo filtering and rapid spatial panning to create a swirling, rhythmic portrait of the sea. Underpinning this is a processed bass clarinet (courtesy of Deirdre O’Leary), adding a melodic layer that eventually comes to the foreground as the waves recede.