Rabbit Rabbit Radio presents a song cycle inspired by conservationist Rachel Carson, free diver Natalia Molchanova, and by sea itself. Black Inscription is both an homage and a reckoning.

“[Black Inscription] keeps breaking my heart. It is both devastating and exhilarating… The most perfect opera of today…”
— Osvaldo Golijov, composer

Composed by three veterans of rock, classical, and pop music, and using the most powerful aspects of each, Black Inscription is both an album and an immersive multi-media musical performance that investigates our evolving understanding of the ocean and our relationship to it. It takes its inspiration from the poetry of the late free diver Natalia Molchanova, and its title from the eloquent and pioneering writings of Rachel Carson.

Many of the songs are based on real issues affecting the future our oceans. We hope that, through this project, we can spark wonder and curiosity about the importance of the ocean’s health, and inspire people to do what they can to protect this most remarkable and valuable resource.

“Wherever rocks meet the sea, the microplants have written their dark inscription, a message only partially legible although it seems in some way to be concerned with the universality of tides and oceans. Though other elements of the intertidal world come and go… the black inscriptions of the microplants are always there…This is the sign of the meeting of land and sea.”
— Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea (1955)