Freeway 2

These recordings capture a portion of the right bank of the LA River as it meanders through a section of Los Angeles known as Frogtown / In contrast to the starkly beautiful concrete channelization for which the river is largely known, this area of the river is comprised of several soft-bottom sections whose natural springs have made any effort to pave over the river impossible / Coupled with the water that is released just upstream from treatment facilities, these narrows reveal something of the river’s pre-urban, natural state cast against the heavy industrial backdrop of Northeast LA / The project was undertaken during the month of August in 2019 / Recording locations were chosen at various points of confluence where the streets of Frogtown meet their terminus at the river’s bank / Each image documents a dead end; the recording itself, however, is captured just beyond, where navigable road turns into storm drain and empties into the river / The order of these recordings follows the course of the river, starting at the 2 Freeway and terminating at Barclay St., just upstream from the 5 // Recorded by: Benjamin Bishop (https://soundcloud.com/benjaminbishop)