At the heart of government

Will Cohen made a series of recordings around London just before the Covid-19 lockdown in March, to capture the changing sounds of a city dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. 

"In the final days before London was shut down in March 2020, I made sound recordings of areas that I care about as a Londoner. From documenting spots that I skated at as a teenager, through to areas I have worked in - I wanted to see what familiar sounds still resonated at this unprecedented time. I used the binaural microphone technique - if you close your eyes and imagine, the physics behind this method of sound capture will immerse you in a 3D stereo environment pictured in the stills that I took on my journey."

"Just off Westminster Bridge, Parliament Square is normally crammed with people protesting, tourists visiting the nearby Abbey, or skaters like my younger self throwing ourselves down the steps."

Part of the #StayHomeSounds project, documenting the sounds of the global coronavirus lockdown around the world - for more information, see http://www.citiesandmemory.com/covid19-sounds