Broken handrail on a fisherman’s hut, Cobh, Ireland in February 2024 – by Damian Drohan

Field Recordings

“A metal tube, maybe 30cm long, 3cm diameter, is threaded by a weathered rope whose hair-like filaments protrude in multiple directions. The rope sags in places and is taut in others as it describes a tired quadrilateral. Here and there hang other lengths of pipe. They used to form a handrail around a deck of sheared and twisted planks. The deck ends in a set of treacherous wooden stairs, where uneven steps lie in booby-trap patience for unwary visitors. The deck fronts a ruined hut where sun and wind have etched a hectic patina of colour. A clamped microphone extracts from the pipe, a plaintive song of wind and loneliness, salt, time and metallic tears.”