Show 1118: Aether (Usmaradio)

by Admin | Sep 4, 2026 | Radia Network

Aether continues a field recording discipline that extends listening beyond the limits of human perception, revealing electromagnetic environments that exist alongside the audible world. Recorded in three remote locations – the Nevada Desert (2016), St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly (2021) and the Pyrenees (2023)—the works were created using a Stephen P. McGreevy VLF receiver. The environments were chosen for their lack of technological interference, where human-made electromagnetic activity recedes and the Earth’s own radio environment emerges.

Stephen Shiell is a London-based sound artist, improviser, composer and field recordist working across experimental music, radiophonic art and site-responsive practice. His recorded works, live performances, sound walks, and workshops explore listening, gathering and performing as social, ecological and political acts, engaging with sound as a means of understanding place and environment. Drawing on field recordings, found and self-built instruments, electromagnetic sound and live electronics, he creates immersive works spanning solo and collaborative performance, radio and participatory projects. He is a certified Deep Listening practitioner and one half of the duo Blanc Sceol. He works collaboratively through Surge Cooperative on listening-based projects along the Channelsea River in East London.

http://www.stephenshiell.co.uk

Usmaradio – Centro di Ricerca Interdipartimentale per la Radiofonia (CRIR) / Interdepartmental Research Centre for Radio Studies, is a workplace of The School of Radio to develop an innovative radio pedagogy. Workshops, work sessions, meetings, presentations of live performance as sections of the project. Produced by UNIRSM | Università degli Studi della Repubblica di San Marino. usmaradio.org / theschoolofradio.org / unirsm.sm

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