The deep country of hearing, described in terms of geology more than in those of any other natural science, not only by virtue of the cartilaginous cavern that constitutes its organ, but also by virtue of the relationship that unites it to grottoes, to chasms, to all the pockets hollowed out of the terrestrial crust whose emptiness makes them into resonating drums for the slightest sounds.1 Michel Leiris, ‘Tympan’2 Beam (2015) is a sound installation created by British sound artist Cathy Lane at the Artry Gallery, Kochi, India, which presents a confluence of sound from sea and harbour, creating succinct and minimalistic impressions.3 Sound waves, light waves, and waves from the Arabian Sea intersect – causing the viewer to speculate and reflect on the much-ignored space of the maritime world. Before proceeding further, it is important to explain that this paper engages with topics intersecting in the title of the work. Lane’s initial title was Sonic Beam; the deletion of ‘sonic’ was judicious because more references accumulate around ‘beam’ alone. The title is therefore not limited to light beams or sonic beams, as ‘beam’ also refers to the width of the broadest part of a boat and to beam trawlers (trawlers in general allow fishing to be much more voracious). Likewise, my analysis here is at the intersection of the above three aspects and is presided over by the waves, a consistent sound throughout the installation. The past and present testimonials of the harbour are told using sound, a medium that often remains in the background in a visually dominated world. This sound art fraternity, which includes Lane, has passionately focused on and experimented with sound art in order to express its rich range of possibilities and the medium’s specificity. It is a more appropriate medium in the context of a coastal region, where the relentless sounds of the waves are eternally present, even if all else has fallen silent. Indeed, they cannot be silenced, and we hear the sea before we see the sea. The soundscapes from Lane’s work attest to the predicaments of the Kochi port environment: the waves, the conversations of workers, the sounds of ships entering, leaving, docking, and passing by – all of these leave sonic traces that write themselves on the tympana of participants’ ears. In addition, it must be remarked that the reverberations of the waves consistently underline and remain as an axis around which the other audio elements revolve; or conversely, the recital of the waves folds around them. The refrain of the waves must be heard by the land to which it hastens wilfully again and again. The earth has ears and the above citation from ‘Tympan’ describes the geological ear so that human terrestrial logic and its greed and ego, listen to the lamentations of the waves.