Carriageworks presents ‘Open Frame: Room40’ a biannual experimental music festival curated by composer and artist Lawrence English, featuring an eclectic line-up of artists operating at the edge of contemporary sound practice. Returning over two nights from 29 – 30 June, highlight acts include American band Xiu Xiu performing their David Lynch-inspired album, Plays the Music of Twin Peaks; Bolivian-American electronic musician Elysia Crampton; Swedish experimentalist Klara Lewis; Canadian composer Sarah Davachi; and American electronic icon Alessandro Cortini presenting his work, Avanti.
Curator Lawrence English said: “This edition of Open Frame is especially close to my heart as it brings together strong emergent voices in electronic music such as Elysia Crampton, Sarah Davachi and Klara Lewis and collides them head on with artists such as Xiu Xiu and Alessandro Cortini who are responsible for some of the most aesthetically provocative and affecting music of the past half decade. Each of these artists has a rich and individuated approach to what they are doing, their voices are their own, and together across these evenings, their polyphony will be exponentially powerful!”
On Thursday 29 June, Elysia Crampton will perform works that subvert machismo and explore South American spirituality and naturalist themes. Xiu Xiu will perform their lauded album, Plays the Music of Twin Peaks, comprised of cover versions of the music from the Twin Peaks soundtrack, originally commissioned by Queensland Gallery of Modern Art for their 2015 exhibition, David Lynch: Between Two Worlds.
Xiu Xiu said: “There is no way that we can recreate Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch’s music as it was originally played. It is too perfect and we could never do its replication justice. Our attempt will be to play the parts of the songs as written, meaning, following the harmony melody. But then to arrange it in the way that it shaped us as players, emphasising its chaos, drama, fear, noise and side long leering glances.”
The line-up on the second night includes Swedish musician, Klara Lewis, known as a sculptor of sounds rich in texture; American electronic icon Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails; and Canadian minimalist ambient composer, Sarah Davachi. Audiences will experience Lewis’ experimental works; Davachi’s compositions combining antiquated instruments and forgotten sonics in analog synthesis; and Cortini’s Avanti, presented with cinematic fluidity, acquainting music with memory. Using his family’s vintage Super 8 films, shot by his grandfather as an accompaniment to his music, Avanti creates a dynamic self-portrait refracted by memory and the melancholy of remembrance.
Alessandro Cortini said: “The project began as a simple improvisation (utilising a Synthi AKS) and vibrantly evolved into a meditatively cohesive and personably triumphant encounter of a living memory through sound.”