Industry Standard

SOUND AS WITNESS. MUSIC AS RESISTANCE


A sonic collaboration by Gemunu de Silva of Tracks Investigations and Gnostic Front

 

Industry Standard is a first-of-its-kind sonic art album that documents animal exploitation through sound rather than imagery. Built from hundreds of hours of covert recordings captured exclusively by Gemunu de Silva and Tracks Investigations, it offers an emotionally charged and immersive listening experience rooted in decades of frontline investigative work.

The album exposes the hidden machinery of animal industries: the systems behind meat, fur, animal testing, and the live animal trade. It confronts the concept of the “industry standard” -where living beings are reduced to standardised units of production.  These recordings were made not in studios, but inside factory farms, slaughterhouses, fur farms, testing labs, and markets around the world. They capture the bleats, cries, hums, slams and silences of places never meant to be heard.

Reshaped and composed by Canadian experimental artist Gnostic Front, these sounds are transformed into atmospheric pieces that are as listenable as they are haunting. The result is a rare fusion of investigative truth and sonic art.

Industry Standard invites audiences to slow down and become ear-witnesses. It is a tool for empathy, exposure and reflection, and can be used for outreach, education, exhibition and activism.

Format

  • Limited edition 12” coloured vinyl

  • Includes an 8-page full-colour insert with investigative photography and track context

  • Digital release to follow on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music and more

 

Thanks & Partners

This project, and the 300+ investigations behind it, would not have been possible without the collaboration and trust of more than 40 animal advocacy organisations around the world.

We would like to thank all our partners, past and present, who have supported, commissioned, and shared our work.

Tracks has conducted investigations for:

A Promise to Animals, Animals Angels, Animals Australia, Animal Equality, Animal Protection Agency, Animal Welfare Foundation, Born Free, Brigitte Bardot Foundation, Brooke, BUAV, CAPS, Cats Protection, Canadian Horse Defence, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), Change for Animals Foundation, Cruelty Free International, Dogs Trust, Eurogroup for Animals, Equine Rescue France, Four Paws, Franz Weber Foundation, Forsøgsdyrenes Værn, GAIA, Greenpeace, Hunt Investigation Team, Humane Society International, IFAW, International Animal Rescue, Marchig Trust, Mercy for Animals, One Voice, PETA, Princess Alia Foundation, Respect for Animals, Sinergia Animal, Surfers Against Sewage, Tierschutzbund Zürich, Varkens in Nood, World Animal Protection (WAP), WAP Canada, WAP Australia  and WSPA

We are grateful for their trust in our work and for their shared commitment to exposing cruelty and creating change.

  

Explore the Tracks

 Click thumbnails for more deatils on each track

  • Le Voyage

  • Angora in F Major

  • Torn from the Wild

  • Lamb of God (The Sacrifice)

  • Live Fast, Die Young

  • Concrete Mothers

  • Cage Variations

  • Beloved

Work with Tracks

Explore the Tracks - Coming Soon!

Le Voyage


A fractured journey in rhythm and noise. Le Voyage traces the disorienting experience of long-distance animal transport – the most overlooked chapter of the global exploitation system, yet responsible for immense suffering. Built from decades of covert recordings, it captures the sonic confusion of animals in motion, stripped of stability and moved across borders for profit.


Some of the earliest sounds in Le Voyage were recorded as far back as 1988, with further material from 2002, 2006, and across the 2010s and 2020s. You hear the bleats of sheep inside European transport trucks, handlers shouting, the low drone of fans, and the deep rumble of engines on sea and land. All recordings were made by Tracks Investigations in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Australia and Indonesia.

But this track is not only about the animals. It is also about those who bear witness. The despair of an undercover investigator as a lorry door opens to reveal a truckload of dead sheep. Voices of protest. Campaigners holding the line. A fleeting broadcast of the Australian Prime Minister responding to one of our investigations. And, briefly, the voice of Joanna Lumley lending her support to the campaign to end live exports. Together, these protests, campaigns, and investigations led to real change including the UK’s landmark decision to ban live animal exports in 2025, and Australia’s commitment to end live sheep exports by 2028.

Musically, this is one of the album’s most recognisable structures. Driven by steady, percussive rhythms and layered with ambient transport textures, Le Voyage draws inspiration from motorik and early electronic music to evoke dislocation and relentless movement.

More than two billion animals endure long-distance transport every year.