forms of minutiae

Join us for a wondrous voyage into the sounds of glaciers and other arctic entities: We are delighted that field recordist and artist Pablo Diserens will be presenting their latest album “ebbing ice lines” in our store on Wednesday 27 May from 7 pm. Alternating between listening and conversing, they will bring us into the recording and listening process behind the album, asking the question: “what happens if we shift our perspective and sense of scale to embody that of a glacier?”. Admission is free! @pablodiserens @forms.of.minutiae @dinzuartefacts * Released as a 2xLP in November 2025 in celebration of UNESCO’s International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, “ebbing ice lines” brings us into the geologies of the Low Arctic. Entirely assembled of field recordings of glaciers, drifting ice, volcanoes, avian vocalizations, and anthropogenic hums, the album sheds light on the minute sounds produced by these environments in Iceland, Finland and Norway. * It invites us to think of landforms, especially glaciers, as entities in their own right, possessing a language made of extraordinarily rich ranges of sonic expressions, that draws us into an intimacy with bodies far greater than our own. The album intervenes in a context where warming climate is altering ecosystems and opening up naval and trade routes across long frozen seas, and Arctic tourism continues to increase exponentially. * The title “ebbing ice lines” plays with the existing tree line terminology — the edge past which trees do not grow — to imagine lines receding in a warming climate, beyond which ice can no longer form. The result is a dronesque and texturally-rich journey through some of the world’s most fragile melting zones. #ebbingicelines #soundsofglaciers #meltingzones #zabriskiebuchladen

Pour notre newsletter 𝙇𝒆 𝒄𝙝𝒂𝙣𝒕 𝒅𝙚𝒔 𝒑𝙞𝒏𝙚̀𝒅𝙚𝒔, nous avons récemment échangé avec @pablodiserens du label @forms.of.minutiae . L’occasion d’évoquer le positionnement et la gestion d’un tel label centré sur le field recording, ses projets pour 2026, le soin du détail dans le geste d’écoute, la notion de présence et celle de porosité – une manière d’être qui permet à Pablo Diserens de créer une relation plus emphatique au monde qui l’entoure. 🌫️ À lire sur notre Substack – lien en bio. ✏️ @iamlaurentb

• for their recent album "ebbing ice lines", @pablodiserens recorded glaciers, drifting ice, volcanoes, avian vocalizations, and anthropogenic hums in the Low Arctic using LOM’s Uši Pro, basicUcho, and Geofón microphones among their equipment. The album brings listeners into intimate proximity with the glaciers and geologies of Iceland, Finland, and Norway, shedding light on the minute sounds produced by these environments. "ebbing ice lines" was released by @forms.of.minutiae and @dinzuartefacts , and supported by @lom.label via the LOM+program. It is part of UNESCO & WMO’s Art for Glaciers in celebration of the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, and was also presented as an installation at @ogvjihlava (IGLOO sound gallery). The project was supported by LOM via the LOM+program 📸 by @clement.coudeyre while recording on the glacier Sólheimajökull ❄️

• Happy new year earthlings! ❄️💫 Before fully diving into 2026, we would like to thank everyone who has made this year particularly special for forms of minutiae. Thank you to the geologies and animals that have shared their acoustic expressions; to the artists Marc Namblard, @ludwig__berger , @camyyu , @allwaysnorth , and @pablodiserens for their spellbinding work and trust; to our dear listeners for their curious ears and heartwarming support; to @vertical.music , @dinzuartefacts and @anton.spice for their precious collaboration; and to all the outlets (press, stores, etc) that have shared their reflections and enthusiasm for our releases. Knowing that so many people have a keen ear and caring curiosity for non-humans and the sonic ecologies of the world is truly a beacon of hope. In 2025, we celebrated UNESCO’s International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation by publishing a series of albums dedicated to glaciers and the acoustic multiplicity of the ice with mesmerizing works by Marc Namblard, Ludwig Berger, Yoichi Kamimura, Cheryl E. Leonard, and Pablo Diserens. In between, we also shared Berger’s and Diserens’ findings on the remarkable philosophy of Basalt. It all felt quite ambitious for us, and it wasn’t without bumps along the way, but we made it thanks to all of you. We are grateful for—and deeply touched by—your support throughout the years. In this posts, you’ll find some lovely EOTY selections. Thank you @bandcamp , @acloserlisten , @reduced.listening & @bbcsounds , @soundohm , @field.notes.berlin_inm , @___mappa , and @thurstonmoore58 Lush sounds are on their way for 2026 ~ more soon 🌱🪲 Tender wishes, Pablo & Mathieu ✳︎ ❄️ ✳︎

Tonight on Late Junction! @pablodiserens , co-founder of @forms.of.minutiae , joins Verity Sharp to discuss symphonic landscapes and documenting environmental loss. In the show, we hear how artists are coaxing a synthesis of voices from the Arctic landscape in a bid to share stories of the fading fortunes of the most rapidly-warming region on Earth. Aside from sharing some of their very own recordings of glaciers, Pablo offers Verity a sonic history of the ways people have been thinking about and tapping into the acoustic multiplicity of ice and documenting landscape and loss. Listen live tonight at 10pm or later on @bbcsounds (link in bio 🔗) Produced by Cat Gough. Images by Clément Coudeyre & Pablo Diserens 🧊

• out now → @pablodiserens ~ "ebbing ice lines" [2xLP/DL - fom19+dnz118, 2025] Our ice series comes to an end with "ebbing ice lines", a geologically-rich and dronesque journey through the Low Arctic’s melting zones by field recordist, sound artist, and forms of minutiae co-founder Pablo Diserens.
 ""What happens," Diserens asks, "if we shift our perspective and sense of scale to embody that of a glacier?" — 'ebbing ice lines' invites us to think of landforms, especially glaciers, as entities in their own right, and draws us into an intimacy with bodies far greater than our own. The album is assembled entirely of field recordings made by Diserens on three trips to the Low Arctic – twice to Iceland and once at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in Finland, on the border with Sweden and Norway. Glacial gurgles, ice symphonies, volcanic eruptions, avian vocalizations, anthropogenic drones, geothermal pipelines, and natural resonances are all characters in the drama of Diserens’ compositions, which like much of their previous work, leans into the smallest details of sound to provide connection and transmission across multiple species, scales and subjectivities. As the title suggests, there is a receding line beyond which ice can no longer form. And yet, the primary purpose of 'ebbing ice lines', and indeed Diserens’ work more broadly, is not to warn in the conventional sense, but to create bridges of understanding through sound that provide routes for us to be more present to that which surrounds us. Hear the veil between you and the ice thin, sense your own porosity, and let your edges dissolve. Everything else will flow from there." — @anton.spice > published in collaboration with @dinzuartefacts > featuring additional volcanic recordings by @mo_zeisner > this series is part of UNESCO’s & WMO’s Art for Glaciers Preservation: /en/art ❄️

• a week to go before the release of @pablodiserens ’ "ebbing ice lines", the fifth and final album of our ice series in celebration of the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation organized by @unesco & @wmo_omm ❄️ Here, some documentation of the recording process and locations behind the album in Iceland, Finland, and Norway. Pablo Diserens is forms of minutiae’s co-founder, and a field recordist and artist devoted to listening practices, non-human realities, and possible forms of interspecies coexistence. Rooted in ecological engagement and site-specificity, their work emphasizes listening as an act of presence and permeation for a radical planetary interrelation. > The two last pictures were taken by @mo_zeisner while recording the Fagradalsfjall volcanic eruption 🌋 > "ebbing ice lines" releases on Nov 21st on 2xLP and digital formats in collaboration with @dinzuartefacts 💿❄️

• announcing: @pablodiserens — "ebbing ice lines" [2xLP/DL - fom19+dnz118, 2025] out November 21st ❄️ For the fifth and final album of our ice series, forms of minutiae teams up with @dinzuartefacts to present the album "ebbing ice lines" by field recordist, artist, and forms of minutiae co-founder Pablo Diserens. On "ebbing ice lines", Pablo Diserens brings us into the geologies of the Low Arctic. Entirely assembled of field recordings of glaciers, drifting ice, volcanoes, avian vocalizations, and anthropogenic hums, the album sheds light on the minute sounds produced by these environments in Iceland, Finland and Norway. It invites us to think of landforms, especially glaciers, as entities in their own right, and draws us into an intimacy with bodies far greater than our own. The title "ebbing ice lines" plays with the existing tree line terminology — the edge past which trees do not grow — to imagine lines receding in a warming climate, beyond which ice can no longer form. The result is a dronesque and texturally-rich journey through some of the world’s most fragile melting zones. > you can pre-order, listen, and read the text @anton.spice wrote about the album on Bandcamp > additional volcanic recordings by @mo_zeisner > portraits by @clement.coudeyre > project supported by @lom.label via LOM+you program > published in collaboration with @dinzuartefacts > part of our ice sounds series in celebration of the international year of glaciers’ preservation (unesco & wmo, 2025) ❄️

• "near the bear" by Cheryl E. Leonard (@allwaysnorth ) featured on @bandcamp ’s best of field recordings and on @acloserlisten ~ many thanks to Matthew Blackwell and Richard Allen ❄️ "Leonard deploys her trademark practice of turning nearly any item into an instrument. The result is a deep interrogation of our place in the world, put into high relief against the brilliant whites and blues of the High Arctic." 🦭

• out now → cheryl e. leonard (@allwaysnorth ) ~ "near the bear" [CD+booklet/DL - fom18, 2025] Our ice series continues with "near the bear", a collection of high arctic compositions by composer, instrument builder, and field recordist Cheryl E. Leonard. In the opening track, “moffen”, Leonard calls forth the playful spirit of juvenile walruses with the help of master saxophonist Phillip Greenlief, who performs on kelpinet, a tubular piece of dried bullwhip kelp with a saxophone mouthpiece attached to one end. This frolicking composition invites audiences to marvel at the wide range of sounds walruses produce, and to share the artist’s concern about the future of this extraordinary species. “glugge”, a response to increasing industrialization in the Arctic Ocean, developed from recordings Leonard made via the porthole in her schooner cabin. Lilting ostinatos generated by the ship’s propeller build into a gasping elegy for the Arctic icecap and the ecosystems it supports. Ensconced in pulsing tones from bowed glass, “thresholds” peers through the window of a home in Upernavik, Greenland into a tempestuous Arctic storm, contemplating tensions between domestic and wild, human and more-than-human. In the slowly-evolving “mørketid”, which grew out of an improvisation on metal handrails in the ghost town of Pyramiden, Leonard wonders what it would be like to spend polar night in a Soviet coal mining settlement. The album draws to a close in Illulissat, Greenland, at a crystalizing edge of Baffin Bay, with the breath-based composition “sila”, which features bird bones brushed with feathers and bowed limpet shells. Together, these evocative works draw listeners north, sharing sounds, wonders, and stories from the most rapidly-warming region on Earth. Though it may seem seem far away, Leonard’s “near the bear” reminds us that we are all marvelously and irrevocably entwined with the fragile, wild Arctic. > the last release of our ice series will be an album by @pablodiserens which we will announce next month ❄️ > this series is part of UNESCO’s & WMO’s Art for Glaciers Preservation: /en/art

• one week to go before the release of Cheryl E. Leonard’s (@allwaysnorth ) “near the bear”, the fourth album of our ice series in celebration of the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation organized by @unesco & @wmo_omm ❄️ Here some documentation of the recording process and Leonard’s self-built instruments used on the album. Cheryl E. Leonard is a San Francisco-based composer, performer, and instrument builder whose works investigate natural sites and ecosystems, and human relationships with them. Her projects cultivate stones, wood, water, ice, sand, shells, feathers, and bones as musical instruments, and feature one-of-a-kind sculptural instruments and field recordings from remote locals. She uses microphones and amplification to explore subtle intricacies of sounds, and develops compositions that highlight unique voices and soundscapes while addressing environmental issues such as climate change and extinction of species. Leonard’s musical research has taken her to wilderness areas around the world, including Antarctica and the Arctic. Her works have been presented in concerts and art exhibitions in the Americas, Europe, Japan, and Australasia. Commissions include works for San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Kronos Quartet, and Small Press Traffic. > “near the bear” releases on Sept 26th on CD+booklet and digital format 💿🦭

• announcing: cheryl e. leonard — "near the bear" [CD/DL - fom18, 2025] out September 26th ❄️ Following Yoichi Kamimura’s "ryūhyō", our ice series continues with its fourth album, "near the bear", a collection of high arctic compositions by composer, instrument builder, and field recordist Cheryl E. Leonard (@allwaysnorth ). From walrus encounters at 79° North to watching the surface of the ocean freeze at -35° Celsius, Cheryl E. Leonard’s "near the bear" summons and celebrates the High Arctic. Over a decade in the making, the album investigates the far north via compositions inspired by the unique wildlife, environments, and human histories of Svalbard and Greenland. Across these five carefully-crafted compositions, Leonard weaves together sounds performed on natural and human-made objects found in polar regions, with field recordings and site-specific improvisations. Voices coaxed from stones, shells, driftwood, bones, sand, and kelp are entangled with wild soundscapes such as lapping waves, sea ice snaps, howling winds, and squeals from a frozen pond. This sonic synthesis hints at the myriad ways Arctic lifeforms and natural systems interconnect. The composer also brings her music into conversation with the rocky history of human enterprises in the Arctic by including sounds from saw blades, pyrex beakers, remnants of forsaken mining operations, and the ship she sailed on in Svalbard. Together, these evocative works draw listeners north, sharing sounds, wonders, and stories from the most rapidly-warming region on Earth. Though it may seem seem far away, Leonard’s "near the bear" reminds us that we are all marvelously and irrevocably entwined with the fragile, wild Arctic. > pre-order, listen and learn more about the album on Bandcamp 🦭 > out September 26th in CD and digital formats 💿 > part of our ice sounds series in celebration of the international year of glaciers’ preservation (unesco & wmo, 2025) ❄️