PERFORMANCE: Son of Science @ Fringe
Son of Science peforming at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Venue: Pony, Little Collins st Melbourne
Date: 2004-09-23 (Thu)
Time: 21:30 - 00:30
Cost: $ 8
"One night when I had tasted bitterness I went out on to the hill. Dark heather checked my feet. Below marched the suburban street lamps. Windows, their curtains drawn, were shut eyes, inwardly watching the lives of dreams. Beyond the sea's level darkness a lighthouse pulsed. Overhead, obscurity."
So begins Star Maker, extracts of a new performance work from Andrew Garton, which will be performed by audiovisual ensemble Son of Science and narrated by Mark Tallon at this years Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Son of Science visits the colossal imagination of author, Olaf Stapledon, via his masterpiece, Star Maker. Originally published in 1935, Star Maker was designed as "an imaginative sketch of the dread but vital whole of things," a visionary history of the universe.
Son of Science is an electronic ensemble formed by Andrew Garton in collaboration with leading underground producer, Steve Law, video/digital FX artist, John Power, and former No More Bandicoots and Knyuk Knyuk Knyuk front-man, Mark Tallon.
Son of Science performs contemporary electronica with jazz and orchestral influences alongside evocative visuals created within a customised computer game engine.
In previous years Andrew brought to the Fringe; Undercurrents, a collaborative work with Taiwanese musicians and video artists, originally commissioned for the opening of the 2001 Taipei International Arts Festival; Sinawe, an excursion through Korea's music and performance legacies, produced with video artist, Kim Bounds; and, Fierce Throat, the screaming choir.
On Son of Science, Andrew says, "Several years ago the concept for a new series of compositions emerged as a synthesis of where I had come from (Sydney's vibrant 70's/80s band scene) and where I had spent the best part of the last decade (Melbourne's new media arts community). I wanted to get back to playing live and to write music that was both epic and evocative.
"Son of Science is an attempt to create the intensity and euphoria of a traditional band of the psychedelic, avant-jazz variety, but with today's technology and the flood of cultural influences now available to us..."
Says Steve Law of Son of Science, "My participation in the Son of Science ensemble represents a welcome return to live collaborative performance, something I have only done on rare occasions over the past 10 years. It's very exciting to be playing in a group situation again, improvising and working with the spontaneous energy of the other members of the ensemble. I'm also enjoying playing live analogue synths again (i.e. Not connected to sequencers), and obtaining exciting new sounds with these classic instruments by processing them live through the latest computer processing technology. Andrew and I have quickly developed a strong and intuitive musical relationship, and I hope to get more involved in the composition side of Son of Science as the group evolves.
"John Powers' live video projections add an extra dimension to our live shows. I have already designed some sounds to accompany the objects in his digital landscapes (which he then effectively performs along with the rest of the music), and also hope to develop these sounds further as our performances progress."
This is the most recent of many collaborations between Andrew and John Power, commencing with the Unseen Unheard series of sound and video improvisations in 1998.
Son of Science is presented by Toy Satellite and Secession Records in association with Pony and the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
