Below Diorite Waters

Below Diorite Waters is a long-form site-specific recording created inside Falls Creek Cave, an isolated mile-long lava tube in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest near Mount St. Helens. The work consists of two extended pieces for closely mic’d cymbals performed alongside the continuous natural drip of cave water.

Developed over the course of two years, the project emerged through repeated, durational visits into the cave. The cave environment did not function as an effect or acoustic enhancement in a traditional sense, as much of the cave is relatively dense sonically and unevenly resonant. What mattered instead was how the environment shaped physical and psychological conditions: darkness, isolation, temperature, distance from the surface, and the altered sense of time that accompanies extended periods underground. These conditions directly informed pacing, pressure, and endurance in the performance.

Seven cymbals were selected for their dense internal overtone structures. By sustaining slow, continuous mallet motion and closely microphoning the instruments, harmonic relationships were allowed to surface gradually over time. These shifting overtones unfold against the unbroken temporal reference of dripping water, creating an environment where change occurs subtly and perception adjusts through duration rather than event.

The work reflects an ongoing interest in duration, acoustic sound as embodied practice, and listening as a form of attention rather than interpretation. Below Diorite Waters does not aim to narrate or dramatize the cave, but to remain in contact with a place whose scale and continuity exceed the presence of humans by tens of thousands, if not millions, of years.

The album was released digitally by Dragon’s Eye Recordings on March 19, 2021. A limited physical edition of CDs with an accompanying physical booklet was self-produced and is now sold out online, though a few copies remain in-person. The PDF booklet is available here for free as supplementary material.