Cathedral Cave is a large sea cave cut into the Tertiary basalts on the south coast of the Isle of Eigg, accessible only at low tide. The island is a fragment of an ancient volcanic complex, formed as the Atlantic Ocean opened through plate tectonic movement, and the cave's dark columnar basalt walls are a direct expression of the same geological forces that shaped the Hebrides.
During the period of Catholic persecution following the Jacobite risings, islanders gathered secretly in the cave to attend mass, giving it the name Cathedral Cave. The space's scale and natural reverb, shaped by rock and the proximity of the sea, lent an unintended solemnity to those hidden gatherings.
An impulse response was captured inside the cave as part of this project, with compositions developed around the acoustic character of the space.
