Friday 20th February 2026. Lake of the Woods, Northern Minnesota on a quest for a Walleye. I had spent the best part of an hour, sound asleep on the back seat of a rental car which had been impressively punching above its weight category as we coasted on a lunar-like frozen landscape over 6 feet of ice with a lake beneath us, when we arrived at our destination. When I stepped out of the car, it was a brisk -20f / -29c, and if that doesn’t wake you up, nothing will. We hurried inside and made ourselves familiar with the relatively basic, yet incredibly cozy and well heated hut, and set up for a day of Ice Fishing. About an hour in, while I was sipping on my third hot cup of Irish Coffee, when along came a rumble. It was like a deep groan from the belly of the lake beneath us, reminiscent of whale song that sent shivers through all of us all from every angle. The silence that followed was deafening and you could have heard a pin drop. What followed next was the most unbelievable sound that went something like this. PEW PEW. Then Silence. Aghast, I looked at Kim, then Hunter, then in slow-mo, I turned my head a full 90 degrees to lock eyes for 0.03 of a second with Jacques only to realise, I was having my first staring competition with him and given neither of us had agreed to starring competition (and let’s be honest, it wouldn’t have been worth the video replay to award a victory to either party anyway) and I snapped back to peripheral view, looking in disbelief to affirm I wasn’t the only one hearing that sound, only to see that wide open mouth gaze, was present on the faces mirroring mine. What was that? A laser gun? Now, Tasting, hearing, experiencing something for the first time, becomes rarer and you cherish those moments more when they happen, the more laps around the sun we do. What we all collectively experienced was something utterly alienlike and so cool. “Righto, what was that?” we all telepathically asked as we sat in silence with heady perfume of propane and delinquent coffee wafting into our nostrils. It was in fact, just the natural sound of air mobbing under the ever expanding and contracting festively plump layer of ice from under pressure below and moments like that make me marvel in the beauty of nature. So much so, it inspired this shirt. Shortly after processing that sound, my mind was taken away by the visual representation in my head. I saw all the faces in the ‘Freezing Choir of Aliens ’ who sang to us. An ancient congregation who all come together under the right climatic conditions, and unite, to sing with one voice. PEW PEW. I feel privileged to have heard it performed live. What we heard beneath us was nature just doing its thing by coming together. Kind of like just what we were doing. Being together and having a great time. Revelling in the camaraderie, sitting with mates on a frozen lake which borders Northern Minnesota and Canada, creating epic memories and we did indeed catch that Walleye. We may have had to tell a fib about its legal length (it was less than half an inch off from I am sorry you can’t keep that) and I was joyed to be at the helm in the kitchen later that night, to send if off in style to our four hungry tummies. Nom Nom Nom. Those sounds continue to sporadically play over in my head, and when you hear, say, or wear the ‘PEW PEW’ may it remind you of the importance of saying YES to adventuring with great mates. It is where great memories are made.
