This seminal work by German Canadian composer and sound ecologist Hildegard Westerkamp weaves together a mesmerizing multiverse of soundscapes guided by multiple storytellings that speak to one another across the five separate compositions. Human songs, sea creature songs, and machine songs swirl around one another in dazzling complexity. The five compositions of Transformations (1996) form a coherent narrative arc, weaving together the relentlessly forceful and rapid heavy pulsings of industrial cityscapes, and the desperation of those who struggle to survive within them, to an exploration of the “tiny sounds” of other creatures who inhabit the fringes of industrial awareness. The first track, “A Walk Through the City,” sets a steel and motor soundscape to the poetry of Norbert Ruebsaat who narrates the fascinating cacophony, reminding us that “the city borders the skin.”

Westerkamp is one of the foundational figures in soundscape recording, sound art, and acoustic ecology. Her work with R. Murray Schafer and Barry Truax in the World Soundscapes Project (based at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia) has inspired generations of composers, scientists, and environmentalists to re-examine their listening practices and engage sonically with their worlds in more imaginative, intentional, and responsible ways.(source)