English musician Cosmo Sheldrake is no stranger to situating his music in relation to nature, from singing a song from the perspective of a microscopic tardigrade to building a whole album on samples of bird calls. His music often has an otherworldly quality as he makes the typical sound alien and unusual. "Echolocation," a collaboration with artist Flora Wallace under the moniker Don't, is no exception.
The song features the chattering of pipistrelle and horseshoe bats, which are usually inaudible to human ears, but the pair used a device called a bat detector to slow down the high-pitched sounds and incorporate them into the song. Sheldrake has explained the song is about bats' ability to use sound to perceive the world. As you listen to "Echolocation," its slow marching rhythm and repetitive lyrics bounce around your head as if you're in an endless cave and leave you with a new perspective on a way to experience what's around you.
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