Francisco Lopez started his career as a field biologist and spent a significant period of time in the Costa Rican rain forest known as La Selva. The field recordings he made while he was working there are the basis for this recording. Although the CD is in some ways the most representational recording
Lopez has released, he wants the listener to approach it as an abstract sound work. To that end, he provides extensive notes both on the philosophy behind the work and details on its recording in a booklet that is taped shut, and then provides a cautionary note telling the listener why the booklet is taped shut and encouraging the listener to leave it that way. The sounds themselves are fascinating indeed, but although the listener can recognize birds, frogs, insects, rain, and other elements of the forest, the composition of the work as it rotates from one aural scene to another is remarkable, and reflects a significant amount of time in the studio to put the piece together.
Lopez also used source material from the rain forest for
Belle Confusion 966, but on that recording the sounds were processed beyond recognition. Since this release,
Lopez has moved away from the soundscapes and acoustic ecology movement, but this release is a pinnacle of his work in this area.