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Looking for soothing music to work to? Want to unwind after a long day? Either way, may we recommend… a 10-hour track of some freezers in a Sheffield Co-op?
Allow us to explain. As reported in the Guardian, last month a Reddit user shared a one-minute-and-two-second audio clip of said freezers in a store on the city’s Ecclesall Road, with the caption: ‘Anyone noticed how nice the freezers sound in the eccy road co-op?’
Posting in the Sheffield subreddit, the user, named yaxu, added: ‘It's like all the fans have been carefully tuned to the calmest droning chord ever, it's like being in an electrical gong bath. I thought it might have been a freak event when I first heard it but it's been that way for a couple of months. If anyone has some decent field recording equipment, I'd really recommend capturing it.’
It turned out that yaxu wasn’t alone, as one member of the group replied: ‘No yeah I've noticed that as well. They’re my favourite freezers in the world.’ That’s right, in the world.
A couple of weeks later, another Reddit user, Lukeautograff, posted an 11-second video of the freezers, which offer a mouth-watering array of ‘Fish’, ‘Meat free’ and ‘Vegetables’. ‘The Eccy road Co-op freezer section does indeed sound heavenly,’ they confirmed. Another member of the group helpfully suggested the sound resembles a C# major.
With interest naturally growing in the freezers, a collective of musicians gathered at the Co-op to record an instrumental track, backed by the droning sound. There’s been a lot of fear in the music industry about AI-created music lately, but apparently the musically gifted welcome our new frozen produce overlords.
In any case, the ambient sound has now been turned into a 10-hour drone track and uploaded to YouTube by some genius named jackbomb. Their caption reads: ‘The oddly beautiful, symphonic resonance of freezer units at the Eccy Road Co-op in Sheffield, UK. Cleaned. Looped. Moisturized. Treated. For deep focus, sleep, or quiet contemplation. Enjoy.’
The freezers have, ironically, proved a hot ticket in Sheffield, with locals visiting the store just to hear them. ‘I heard about it on social media,’ one such person told BBC News. ‘It made me curious to go down and visit. It almost feels quite choral, you feel like you're in a cathedral listening to a massive choir of voices.’
A Co-op spokesperson also cheerfully told the Beeb: ‘Whilst we’re unable to confirm whether the freezers are rehearsing for their next orchestral recital, it's good to hear our shoppers are enjoying the freezer section at Ecclesall Road Co-op.’
In the Sheffield area? Treat yourself to a free drone concert in the Co-op at 849 Ecclesall Road (S11 8SD).
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