Meat Factory Earworms

One of the clips we were shown in class was:


'Meat factory ear worms' by Richie Beirne. (2008)


Its a narrative about the documentary-maker's memory of his work at a slaughter house and the things he would think about to distract himself from the 'killing line'. The 'earworms' he refers to are songs that got stuck in his head and couldnt get rid of.
The piece is a mixture of voice narrative of a young irish guy, atmospheric sound effects such as sharpening knives, moving cattle carcasses, and general factory noises from the slaughter house, and parts of the songs that he would get in his head. The sounds effects are all layered into eachother which makes it more realistic and the listener feels more involved.
I really disliked the piece when i listened to it in class, however Ive listened to it a couple of times once I got home and Im actually starting to like it (..perhaps its insanity setting in..) When he talks about his old girlfriend and the song 'I used to love her' plays in the background, and he sings along, I started to sympathise with him, I can imagine him doing his pretty gruesome job while trying to distract himself from some ex-girlfriend.
He's talking about how it was a bad time in his life and I like it cuts to part of one of his 'earworms', Starry Starry night with "how you suffered for your sanity", it actually plays that line two or three times during his piece so its obviously a reflection of how he felt at the time.
I also like how he starts with "its like riding a bike", you dont expect him to be discussing a slaughter house. He seems to be trying to shock the listener, which i also like, when he says about the sweet smell of the slaughter house and the start of Starry starry night begins, and suddenly its cut to silence and he says "of a backbone being sawed in half", its very jarring.