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The frontline sonic journal of a Ukrainian musician-soldier.

Wartime soundscapes recorded by Ukrainian experimental musician-turned-soldier Timur Dzhafarov: sketches on a broken piano in an abandoned house near Bakhmut, rain on a field hospital roof, dogs howling in tune to the sirens…

Before Russia's full-scale invasion, Timur made experimental electronic music in Kiev under the name John Object. He walked through life with open ears, picking up unusual sounds to use in his compositions. Then on the third day of the invasion, he joined the Ukrainian Army. As a soldier, Timur still finds a few moments to tune into the sounds around him: the staccato firing of a rifle, the dissonant tone of air-raid sirens, a pianist playing in the mess hall. But his relationship to the aural environment is to change as the war drags on.

Location recordings by Timur Dzhafarov
Music by Timur Dzhafarov (recording as John Object)
Producer: Cicely Fell
A Falling Tree production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Four.