Song
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Song

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So, three years ago, they gathered in a room. “We didn’t know where to start,” admits Cortese. Tyson had just returned from a holiday to the island of Guernsey and had with him the book, Toilers of the Sea, by Victor Hugo, which was first published in 1866. “So we thought, just to kick start this, let’s all read the book,” says Cortese. Romanticism plus relationships to nature, solitude, travel and work – the toil the title addresses – all came up as themes they found interesting. “So the songs sprang from that discussion,” says Cortese.

Tyson has written original songs, with a folk influence, especially for this installation, which is called SONG and opens Friday night. The songs don’t follow traditional structure – “ok, now he’s a chorus, here’s a hook” – but are different. “Sometimes they end in suspension and we’re playing with that, so they’re not always a pleasing song form,” says Cortese.

Tyson will be singing and playing live, accompanied by two other singers on guitar and piano, although they will all be behind a curtain. “We wanted that live sense…we wanted to retain that quality but the actual auditorium will be a giant listening room, really,” he says.

Cortese says he and Tyson knew they wanted to present a song cycle but didn’t want to do a concert or a gig. “We wanted some sort of way to listen to these songs and then we just thought we’d create some sort of environment in which to listen to them and at that point, we engaged Laura Lima”. The Brazilian conceptual artist brought the concept of landscape to the project and the Arts House at North Melbourne has been “stripped back to its architecture” and the cavernous space is being transformed into a synthetic landscape, where audience members can have a multi-sensory immersive experience.  

In addition to the live music, there will be a soundscape playing during and between songs, courtesy of sound artist David Franzke, which will consist of atmospheric recordings from nature including weather, bush ambiences, the sea and various animal noises. The space will also be infused with corresponding scents. Created by George Kara, the scent of the ocean, forest or earth will add to the sensory experience.

Light artist Stephen Hennessy provides the sun, in the form of a 4metre diameter disc hanging in the air. It will reflect the colours and ambience of the setting sun, based on recordings of the sky 60 minutes before night falls into darkness. Astroturf mats, cut into shapes, and small camping stools will be available to the audience, who can explore the space and decide where they sit – or even lie. “They can get a beer, come back in,” says Cortese, who expects every audience member to have a different experience, depending on where they are in the room and how they choose to interact.

“This is a massive hall, so when you sit down on the floor, it’s got a sense of space and emptiness and wonder but at the same time, we’re not hitting anyone over the head. We’re just going this is a place for you to come and listen and experience subtly and quietly, because it’s not a raucous event, and sit and see what happens to you”.

BY JOANNE BROOKFIELD