Electric Fields are rewriting the music industry bible one success at a time
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25.10.2019

Electric Fields are rewriting the music industry bible one success at a time

Electric Fields
Words by Ellen Rosie

We chat to the rising soul explorers after they took out the 2019 Corner Award.

Adelaide-based electro-soul duo Electric Fields have been creating a buzz as an up-and-coming outfit in Australia. The pair, comprised of vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding and keyboard player and producer Michael Ross, were finalists for the 2019 highly acclaimed Corner Award proudly presented by The Corner Hotel and have now been announced as this year’s winner, something the duo says they’re stoked about.

“It’s always great to be recognised when you work really hard. This is like a solid high-five with a satisfying thwack from an awesome venue.”

For winning the Corner Award, the band will receive a number of great prizes such as a cash cheque of $5000, a headline show at the Corner Hotel and a two-week poster run, just to name a few.

This is huge for Electric Fields; it will mean they will be able to surround their music with the proficient promotional means needed to take another step. “When you’re an indie band, you often go without,” Ross says. “For our first national tour which was a few months ago, we only did posters in two cities, couldn’t afford to bring Grayson [Rotumah] and Jamie [Goldsmith] with us, used whatever lighting was there on the fly, just bare-bones due to the cost of it all.

“Australia is a huge country with a small population so all us musicians here have to work hard to get around.”

Winning the Corner Award puts them among past recipients, Sampa The Great, Cable Ties and Baker Boy, who Electric Fields say they respect a lot. For their headline show at The Corner, the band say they’ll be celebrating by getting some new fishnet stockings, some custom Electric Fields scrunchies.

“We haven’t played The Corner before so we can’t wait because we know it’s a great venue. We’ll definitely do something special for this show, not sure what yet.”

Electric Fields have been stirring things up at festivals around the country such as BIGSOUND, WOMADelaide and Vivid Live but manage to stay grounded. On tour, they keep their band laptop with them so they can continue working on new music; after the Corner Award honour, the band just wants to get their music to more people.

“When we compose tracks we’re usually releasing our grip on old memories,” Ross says. “We find our audiences often follow suit and we co-work with them to conjure a state of joy. We also like to create around other people’s stories or aspects of living on earth that you don’t often hear in electronic music.”

Electric Fields would encourage musicians who are just starting their career to work hard and be perseverant.

“Get messy with your emotions and for god’s sake be good. Write about parts of yourself that you don’t already have a song for including the aspects that make you scared and embarrassed. Know that you may never be able to make enough money to pay your bills from music and be okay with that.”

Incredibly grateful to the Corner Hotel for the accolade, Electric Fields have a number of people they would love to thank. The duo is just a couple of soulmates sharing their ideas and energy through honest music and they care deeply for all the people who help them make it happen.

Next, Electric Fields see themselves releasing new music featuring collaborations with some of their favourite artists to be released in 2020.

“Mostly we can’t wait to finish our original music. There’s some soulful EDM and traditional inma songs [thousands of years old] from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands that have been lent to us by the Elders.”

Congratulations to Electric Fields for taking out the 2019 Corner Award. Find out more about the accolade via award’s dedicated website.