An upstream migration from ocean beach to cedar forest and the first drops of water.

Despite the eight minute length, there are more than 20 separate sound portraits that compose this single, continuous journey upstream from the ocean beach to the source of pure water, seeping out of the ground at dawn.

These many sound portraits are arranged in a smooth, continuous fashion and presented in three movements: ocean beach, transition with seagulls, and the migration upstream. The subjects of all these portraits are in a process of transformation.

First we listen to the ocean; each wave is a separate recording made inside a different piece of driftwood, the experience as a whole sounds like the ocean of waves but in another sense it is an ocean of time--an ancient forest that grew elsewhere and now resides in our imaginations.

Second we hear seagulls feeding on ocean smelt. Everything is flowing, sunlight into plankton, plankton into fish, fish into bird; sunlight passing into ever larger consciousness as a preparation for the migration that is about to take place.

The migration upstream is through several distinct portraits, beginning of course near the ocean and then moving inland. We are in the forest yet we can hear ocean surf resonate in the space; at times we can even hear a heartbeat-like sound recorded inside the base of a living tree, even though the ocean is miles away.

This production ends as we listen to morning songbirds and the first drops of water that feed the beginning of the creek. Around us are the living trees that may someday become driftwood in the ever-changing ocean of time.

This work was made possible by a grant from the Jack Straw Foundation, Seattle, Washington.