Presented by the Museum Of Sound in partnership with The Radiophonic Institute, The Sound Of The Year Awards is an annual, worldwide competition which invites people to submit recordings that help us understand more about the world we live in. We caught up with Mathias Arrignon, winner of this year’s event, about his piece ‘Songs Of The Bearded Seals’
Hi Matthias. Tell us about what’s happening in your recording…
“During an expedition in the Arctic Ocean, whilst aboard a zodiac, I had lowered two hydrophones to a depth of around 15 metres. It turned out that there were many bearded seals there, a species emblematic of this part of the world. You can hear them communicating with each other through their very distinctive vocalisations – long, spiralling trills, short sweeping calls and low-frequency moans. I was accompanied by an Arctic specialist, and his theory was that, as it was the middle of May, this was the seals’ mating season. Their calls were thought to be a form of courtship display.”
What were you thinking and feeling while you recorded it?
“Listening to this recording is still a very moving experience for me. Even though I’d heard many bearded seals during my expedition, I’ll always remember just how incredible it was to hear their call for the first time, as I had no idea what it was at the time. Their call seems to come straight from another world, yet it also seems full of emotion, or perhaps it is my personal association with it that makes me truly appreciate the beauty and fragility of the Arctic world, stirring within me a strange and complex mix of joy and sadness.”
What’s your background in recording sound?
“My background in recording sound spans radio, film, and sound art. After training in sound engineering at INA (the French National Audiovisual Institute), I spent two years at Radio France, where I developed skills in location recording, studio production, and radio drama. I later worked in film post-production before completing an MA in Sound Arts at the London College of Communication. Now based in Glasgow, I use field recording as a core part of my artistic practice, exploring listening, memory, and environmental relationships.”
Who/what/where inspires you to record?
“I greatly admire the work of field recordists and sound artists such as Mélia Roger, Pablo Diserens, Action Pyramid, Thibault Jehanne, Ludwig Berger, Jana Winderen, Yoichi Kaminura and Félix Blume, whose works expand the possibilities of the art of field listening. I also enjoy imagining how field recording can convey the ineffable, the sublime and the longue durée of a place’s history, much like Werner Herzog’s films, which depict environments in a raw, unvarnished way, sometimes serving as a reflection on our relationship with the world.”
The best advice you’ve ever been given or would give to a fellow music maker?
“To ask ourselves why we do or do not decide to press the record button. What is this impulse that drives us to want to keep listening to a sound, and how can we build on that moment from the past?”
If you could only record one more thing, what would it be?
“I’m a few centuries too late, and I’ve probably spared myself the experience of quite a few dangers, but I would have been interested in recording the eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883. The explosion of this volcano is the loudest sound ever recorded in written history, at 180 dB SPL, and with a travel distance of around 4,800 kilometres. The acoustic pressure wave circled the globe more than three times. I wonder what it feels like to experience such a powerful geological cataclysm, even from so far away from its acoustic epicentre.”
Mathias Arrignon’s bio:
Mathias Arrignon is an artist from Val-de-Marne (France), based in Glasgow and working internationally. Driven by listening, he is using this sensitive language to foster environmental care and to narrate realities which suffer from invisibilation. His works merge field recording practices, audio technology, interactive installations and participatory performances to instil forms of interconnectedness with worlds that are often more-than-human.
His work has been presented and developed at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, Listen Gallery, Southwark Park Galleries, Centre Intermondes, INA GRM, and The Arctic Circle Residency, with broadcasts on Resonance FM, Sonic Matter and Radio Campus Paris. He received a Sound of the Year Award in 2020 and in 2025, and a Phonurgia Nova Award in 2024.
