Good music always searches for what Claude Debussy describes as that which lies “between the notes”. Even as artists seek to integrate musical works with accompanying visual media and songs texts, the music constantly reaches beyond that which “words alone cannot express”. Such musing seemed evident in Rubiks Collective’s first performance of Wally-Gunn’s song cycle, Rorqual, with interludes by sound artist Tilman Robinson, and “dark dreamscape” projections from film artist Chris Bennett. While this engaging song cycle featured an extensive use of verse by numerous contributions from the 19th century through to the present day, it was what was “between the lines” of text in sound, music and immersive sensation that seemed to convey its messages best.
The audience arrived and were led through the entrance hall to the modestly spaced main hall of the Temperance Hall in South Melbourne on Thursday night. The space had been transformed into an underwater “imaginarium” of deep blue lighting, smoke, with sound effects that evoked submarine environments, and accompanied by visuals of the sea’s surface as seen from below projected on the wall behind the makeshift stage where the musicians performed. The audience seemed initially oblivious to this rather captivating transformation of space, though as musicians assembled and the Acknowledgement of Country was recited, the atmosphere revealed itself as an immersive world of music, sound and vision.
Rorqual takes its inspiration from an unusual whale song from a species of baleen “rorqual” whale that oceanographers detected in the 1980s. The suggested loneliness of this whale, resulting from its inability to match its call frequency to other whales to find a mate, is the muse upon which this immersive work explores more subjective concepts in a “journey through withdrawal, solitude, resilience, and connection”. The subjectification of the rorqual whale’s lonely journey led the audience on a kind of “sense and soul” journey in song and music as a unified cycle of nine songs – the focal point of the work whose bookended sound media acted as a kind of sonic glue.
As each song explored deeper meanings of identity, connection, sensation and emotion in relation to the living and non-living world of particles in fluid spaces, one could sense as if becoming increasing enveloped in a lonely submersible vessel descending in recursive fashion into an increasingly abstracted world. This was achieved at the macro-level thanks to the post-minimalist and recursive features of each song’s structure. The layering technique evident in the score evokes space and place imbuing the music with textures that suited the aim of perpetuating a “deep sea journey” in the literal and metaphorical sense. This was mainly achieved through propulsive ostinati pedals and chords and hypnotic drones on piano, percussion and cello, and contrasting articulations in the passagework for flute and clarinet. An early nod to whale song was hauntingly mimicked by some effective entries on cello by Gemma Kneale early in the song cycle. Kneale’s ability to traverse conventional bowing and extended techniques including the use of harmonics were supported by percussionist and co-director Kaylee Melville. Melville’s unconventional use of a bow on vibraphone, when combined to the layered sound of the ensemble added to the often-ethereal ensemble tone colours.
Foregrounding the ensemble was the vocal soloist Gian Slater, who provided a blend of indie and jazz vocal timbres. Slater’s intimate delivery, with contrasts of breathy and pure tone, was most striking in the close-miked moments that particularly reflected the often vulnerable and exposed nature of indie vocal music. While it was clear that the vocal soloist intended to contrast this intimate mode of delivery with more dramatic outbursts in the climaxes, Slater’s efforts were sometimes undermined by some sound balance issues in the amplification of the ensemble, making the text itself inaudible at times. This issue was also noted in the different articulations employed in the passagework of the clarinet and flute, the clarinet being more successful simply due to the fuller sound and dynamic employed by clarinettist Robin Henry. At times the cello ostinati and flute were somewhat drowned out by the aggregate of sound and amplification. Venues not designed to accommodate such amplification can also pose problems when sound amplification is a key component of the performance. Perhaps, this is partly forgivable in that lines and verse sections of the voice and accompaniment were repeated and layered “sound world” aesthetic as it manifested, and the amplification settings were reflective of this murky underwater world. It could also be that these distortions were intentional since much indie music prides itself on its “unpolished aesthetic”. Since this work is a kind of fusion of genres, it would be interesting to hear a performance curated with an amplification setting were lines are adjusted to favour a “classical music” aesthetic of sound balancing where all lines might result in more clarity in the embellishments within the drones and ostinati.
A final interesting note in this performance was the evidently considered awareness each performer demonstrated in their careful use of movement as they played and in between their performance, with carefully considered physical movements and gestures that always matched the mood of the unfolding work. The evident sensitivity of their own role within the liminal space they inhabited as performers enhanced the overall mood of the work.
Rubiks Collective’s performance of Rorqual succeeded in immersing the audience in a work that was highly engaging of all the senses. For future performances, it might be helpful to reflect on how some aspects of the artifice such as sound amplification could be adjusted to highlight some of the embellished details of this fascinating work.
Photo supplied.
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Stephen Marino reviewed ‘Rorqual’ presented by Rubiks Collective at Temperance Hall in South Melbourne on Thursday, December 5, 2024.
