The integration deepens. Electric viola da gamba player Jenny Eriksson’s Elysian Fields project gave six players of diverse backgrounds a chance to excavate a unique collective sound, and the artistic success always partly depended on how successfully its disparate elements – classical, folk, jazz and early music – could fuse, rather than being parallel streams. The band here achieves that goal on a repertoire of Scandinavian folk music: pieces that readily accommodate the eccentric instrumentation, and also grooves, textures, harmonies and improvisational language rooted in jazz. The source material is often exquisite, and the arrangements deft. On Frid pa Jord (Peace on Earth) and the hymn-like Meditatus Susie Bishop’s singing has the innocent purity of a boy soprano’s (other sides of her singing being revealed elsewhere). A cover quote speaks of the viola da gamba’s similarity to the human voice, which is confirmed repeatedly throughout, including on the wistful Lat till Far (Tune to My Father). Pianist Matt McMahon, saxophonist Matt Keegan, bassist Siebe Pogson, drummer Dave Goodman and Bishop’s violin complete the cast on this diaphanous recording, launched at Mary’s Underground on November 1. JOHN SHAND
Midnight Oil’s new album The Makarrata Project is out now.Credit:ABC
ROCK
Midnight Oil
THE MAKARRATA PROJECT (Sony)
★★★★½
We’re damned lucky to have this band back. Almost 20 years after their last album, Midnight Oil deliver a vastly diverse collection of songs and possibly their most important musical statement in four decades. Harking back to the sheer explosive power and passion found on songs such as Back on the Borderline from 1981’s Head Injuries, Gadigal Land punches hard and tough from the opening blasts, Peter Garrett snarling, with Dan Sultan and Mirning elder Bunna Lawrie firmly in his corner. First Nation, with guest vocals from Jessica Mauboy and Tasman Keith, is equally brimming with rage, but has the Oils’ typically rock-solid beat keeping the message on track and fists in the air. Change the Date shifts the tempo considerably and comes with a previously unreleased vocal track by late singer and multi-instrumentalist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, while Terror Australia has rising star Alice Skye singing solo with only piano accompaniment. At the albums’ core is a reading of the Uluru Statement, From the Heart, featuring several of the 16 Indigenous voices that make this far more than simply a new Midnight Oil album. It’s a genuine collaboration seeking reconciliation – with a rocking beat and loads of heart and soul. MARTIN BOULTON
CHAMBER MUSIC
Hinterlandt
SEVEN TALES (Art as Catharsis)
★★★★
Seven Tales does exactly what it says on the packet: each track introduces us to a character in the midst of their own rather tragic event. Bringing back the honeyed vocals of Nicole Smede (previously featured on 2016’s Chase A Dream), Hinterlandt has left behind their rhythmic urgency in favour of whimsical storytelling. The lyrics sound deceptively mundane at first, but their front and centre placement against almost unrelated avant-garde accompaniments gives them a peculiar weight. Indeed, nestled among the bluntness is surprising poignancy and delightful black humour. The Tale of Jamira sets the scene for a toddler’s quiet walk home from day-care, but when the “evening star” she is admiring turns out to be a warplane, a mother’s reassurances become hauntingly cynical. Two tracks later, snort with amusement at The Tale of Ralph, a 36-second vignette of a man whose love of efficiency leads him to stop breathing, “which cut his life real short”. By the time you reach The Tale of Zara you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped into a recitative from a Sondheim musical. Such good storytelling deserves a stronger plot, but admittedly the discombobulation makes us inclined to empathise with the subject matter. JESSIE CUNNIFFE
WORLD
Joseph Tawadros
LIVE AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE (ABC)
★★★½
One of the world’s most adventurous oud players, and among Australia’s most important musical voices today, Joseph Tawadros can brush aside his undeniable virtuosity to create sublime melodies that are both uplifting and heartbreaking. Growing up exposed to all the multicultural influences Sydney offers, Tawadros learned the oud in the tradition of his native Egypt, with its rich repertoire of orchestral music featuring the instrument. So this collaboration with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Northey, is a natural progression in his musical journey. The orchestra sounds strongest on the tense, suspenseful first movement of his Concerto for Oud and Orchestra, reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann scores for Hitchcock films, and the sweeping, achingly beautiful Permission to Evaporate, with the bassy woodwind and brass especially effective. But with compositions that draw more on North African/Middle Eastern idioms, like Point of Departure and Constantinople, it’s hard to avoid comparisons with classic Egyptian oud and orchestra recordings by composers such as Farid al-Atrache and Mohammed Abdel Wahab: the SSO nails the textures and grandeur, but not the ambience, swing or sultriness. EUGENE ULMAN
Martin Boulton is EG Editor at The Age and Shortlist Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald
John Shand has written about music and theatre since 1981 in more than 30 publications, including for Fairfax Media since 1993. He is also a playwright, author, poet, librettist, drummer and winner of the 2017 Walkley Arts Journalism Award
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