Tag Archives: Aussie Artists

Silphie Releases Music Video for ‘Blossom Fairy Queen’

December 6, 2024 Marshall Cullen

An Australian neo-classical quartet, Silphie’s newest song is the quaint, old-worldly ‘Blossom Fairy Queen’ that carries a serene sensation of calmness, the delicate notes washing over the senses.

A blend of enchanting folktronica and haunting neo-classical tones melded to the gorgeous, operatic vocals of singer-composer Michaele Archer (who sings in English and Latin), ‘Blossom Fairy Queen’ will transport you to a medieval landscape in Renaissance Europe.
Rich in emotive strings alongside harmonium and classical guitar that carry poignant feels of spirituality, the song is centred around themes of eternal love, creation and the circle life.
Archer is joined by Rachel Whealy (cello), Giuseppe Zangari (guitar) and Gab Steele (viola) to form Silphie. “‘Blossom Fairy Queen’ was one of those gifts of a song that came all at once on a balmy spring evening,” shares Michaele. “The big theme of the song is the eternal, powerful nature of love.
“It’s also about the mystery of creation and the circle of life, so it’s beautiful that our viola player Gab Steele was pregnant with her first child when we filmed the clip.”

“Working with Benjamin Fraser, who I would describe as a genius Renaissance person, is a wondrous experience every time,” Michaele says. “Benjamin created hair and make-up (with Taylor Anne) and made the jewellery headband as well as the vision for filming and editing.
“Things are always an adventure as Benjamin loves to let things unfold spontaneously on the day within the plan. So sometimes unexpected things happen and Benjamin’s way of directing makes you feel comfortable, expressive and brave!
“We are super grateful and happy that our other film clip for this project created by Benjamin, ‘Sulpicia’s Birthday’, has received three offical selections in film festivals and an Award of Excellence in the Women’s International Film Festival.
“The lovely thing about this group is we are all old friends so our filming projects and rehearsals are joyous and chilled. There’s a lot of love!” Gab adds: “It’s always such a pleasure to work with everyone! I actually went to high school with Benjamin, so we met over 20 years ago!”
Set to release their album ‘Garland The Love Poems Of Sulpicia’ in February, Silphie have already enjoyed positive feedback about ‘Blossom Fairy Queen’.
“There is something about this song that seems to resonate with people,” Michaele says. “We played some new material from the album as part of the Tubular Festival/Gossy weekender recently and had amazing feedback.
“Maybe it’s the message of love and connection or the slightly Celtic feel. For people to let us know they felt moved and make such lovely comments makes everything worth it! We hope people enjoy the clip as well.”

Video premiere

Stream the Single

Connect

News and Touring

Paul Scott Releases New Single ‘The Angry Boyz’

November 21, 2024 Marshall Cullen

Musically the track is somewhere between pop, punk and disco, which I have never referred to as ‘posco’. Lyrically it went like this: I was witness to a statement purporting to be fact that was so egregious in it’s falsehood and so inept in it’s delivery, it made me laugh. A comic manifesto for the angry boys. That’s how it starts, not just the song, but also the trouble. ‘Garbage truckers’ is not a reference to the good people of our cities’ sanitation departments, it’s the gossip we drown in.

Paul Scott began his career in music, writing and playing bass in angular NZ group Pop Mechanix. Despite court cases, a revolving cast of singers and multiple record labels, their single ‘Jumping Out A Window’ became a staple of New Zealand pop culture.

Relocating to Australia, Paul formed Montana with Ken Stewart (Mr Blonde), Michelle Margherita and Steve Melville. Their first release featured ‘Koolest Band’ which received national airplay and high rotation on JJJ. A brief tour of the USA and a performance at SXSW, led to ‘Koolest Band’ being included in the Hollywood movie ‘You Drive Me Crazy’. The subsequent album ‘Bubblegum Love’ was released in Australia, Spain, France and the USA.

Scott has since plied bass for various Australian acts, playing everywhere from community halls and malls in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to the Sydney Opera House. Teaming up with Steve Melville (ex Mr Blonde and Montana) Paul and Steve have established a studio production relationship, playing on each other’s tracks (Stewart and Melville, The Likes of You) and coproducing The Insufferable Paul Scott’s well received 2021 album ‘Tea and Medals’ (which Melville also mixed).

Their most recent project is a closer collaboration with Melville adding drums, percussion and keyboards to Scott’s voice, guitar and bass, a line up very close in sound and feel to their youthful unit ‘Montana’. “I was looking for the kind of pop thrill I used to get from great Aussie indie bands such as The Falling Joys, Smudge, The Hummingbirds, pop thrills… you know?” says Scott. An album has been completed and tracks will be released over the next few months on Foghorn, home to most of their releases to date.

Stream

Connect

News and Touring

Big Merino Release Single ‘Long Time’

November 16, 2024 Marshall Cullen

Composed in the aftermath of the rejection of the Voice Referendum, the song reflects on the dispossession of Australia’s indigenous people. The vote seems an attempt to deny the truth, the theft of land and resources. Alex “To me, the referendum was a gentle request for respect and inclusion. The fact that it failed demonstrates how far we have to travel as a nation and asks the question, how long will that process will take? Going on past experience, I would say it’s going to take a long time.”

Alex worked doing photos on APY lands some years ago. The cover image, taken during those sessions, is of a church in Indulkana. The hometown of the famous portraitist, Vincent Namatjira: Archibald Prize Winner and Gina Rinehart’s least favourite artist. In the recording the band tried to get a sense of space using acoustic instruments to reflect the feeling of the vastness of those places.

About

Formed in 2017, Big Merino play original music that blurs the lines between country, blues, roots, rock and pop. Despite an obvious passion for what’s often called ‘Americana’ their songs somehow manage to be very personal and quintessentially Australian – the words and sound shaped by the landscape and their own stories.

Their live sound is a classic combination of acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, bass and drums. Their recordings are fleshed out with multiple guitar layers, gospel style harmonies, Hammond organ, piano, horns and percussion.

In 2018 the band released their debut album ‘Suburban Wildlife’, made two cinematic film clips with director Alan Harca, and performed all around Sydney. The band has done numerous Interviews & live-to-air performances including ABC 702 & RN, 2SER Dirt Music, Radio Skid Row, Eastside Radio, Aussie Music Weekly and 2BBB. The single ‘Black Cockatoos’ was top 10 on AMRAP Metro and Regional playlists.

Stream

Connect

News and Touring, Videos

Paul Scott ‘Saturday Morning TV’ (Official Music Video)

Video November 13, 2024 Marshall Cullen

Videos

Gareth Koch ‘Bossa Nova Latina’ (Official Video)

Video November 13, 2024 Marshall Cullen

News and Touring

Gareth Koch Releases Single ‘La Rumba Flamenca’

November 7, 2024 Marshall Cullen

The joyous flamenco rumba is an immensely popular style, stemming from Cuba by way of the port of Cadiz in Spain. There are many types of Rumba which often share the characteristic of incorporating popular musical themes within their structure. In ‘La Rumba Flamenca’ the traditional melody Spanish Romance is integrated into the opening measures.

Set in the traditional format of three repeated sections, ‘La Rumba Flamenca’ can be described as an erotic, mischievous and salsified dance. Rumba is closely related to the flamenco tango and is one of the most accessible flamenco styles, danceable and lighthearted.

About Gareth

Gareth Koch is an ARIA Award winning multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, guitar soloist, composer & songwriter. He has recorded a sizeable repertory across multiple genres spanning works for classical guitar, flamenco, original compositions, arrangements, medieval projects, rock & songwriting. He has appeared at major festivals within Australia, Europe, Asia and North America.

Born in Milan, Gareth began his musical studies on piano and clarinet, and at age 12 was accepted into the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He received his Bachelor of Music degree at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before winning scholarships for advanced guitar study at The Royal Madrid Conservatorium & the Vienna Academy of Music. He holds a PhD in Music & has lectured in music across Australian & European universities.

In 2002 Gareth formed the first guitar supergroup with Karin Schaupp & The Grigoryan Brothers, Slava & Leonard. Saffire – The Australian Guitar Quartet soared to #1 on the Classical Music Charts and even featured on ARIA pop charts. The quartet released a total of 3 best-selling albums & was Australia’s biggest selling classical act for several years.

Gareth is involved with many cross genre projects & has released a succession of collaborative albums with Martin Kennedy & with ARIA Hall of Fame inductee Steve Kilbey (The Church). His recent release ‘The Guitar Player’ received a coveted 5 star review from The Sydney Morning Herald. Gareth’s current output has a strong rock bias with classical overtones & his writing is increasingly focussed on the ethereal nature of music.

Stream

Connect

News and Touring

Kalen Hogan Releases New Single ‘Mindless’

November 1, 2024 Marshall Cullen

Kalen is moved by the gritty side of life and respects those who are struggling with inherited or self-induced negative states of mind. ‘Mindless’ comes from that state of mind, lost, isolated, describing hallucinogenic episodes and schizophrenic-like symptoms.

Kalen says ‘‘Mindless’ is a song about mental illness. It describes hallucinogenic episodes and schizophrenic like feelings. We are taken on a journey with a person who is well into literally losing their mind.’

About Kalen

Kalen Hogan debuted onto the local Central Coast music scene in late 2022 and proudly launched his debut album ‘Isolation’ in May 2023. Keen to kick off the new year with new singles, he released ‘On The Phone’ and ‘Right There’ earlier this year.

As an alternate indie rock singer-songwriter, Kalen proudly admits to being inspired by the 1990’s grunge movement, with a real reverence for bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains. Kalen sings about the complexities of everyday life, with an open heart and keen observing eye. His pure vocal tone has been described as sounding reminiscent of Thom Yorke from Radiohead and the late Jeff Buckley.

You can catch Kalen performing live at various venues and events across the Coast.

Stream

Connect

News and Touring

Paul Scott Releases Single ‘Saturday Morning TV’

October 24, 2024 Marshall Cullen

Saturday Morning TV, do you remember, would you go back? They are always selling tickets to the past, would you retreat to the days of innocence and simplicity? The past is a foreign country and we, with our poisoned knowledge, will not be welcomed. We are forever fated to fall forward into our mutual futures; what was felt then will never be felt again. Change consumes us and as some things degrade, we can also evolve, we can burnish our souls. The synths sounds are relics, the guitars refer to a digital past, all matt gloss and sharp edges.

Stream

Connect

News and Touring

Silphie Releases Single ‘Blossom Fairy Queen’

October 17, 2024 Marshall Cullen

Blossom Fairy Queen is dedicated to our loved ones who have passed. The song was one of those gifts of a song that seemed to arrive whole. I sat down to the piano and just played and sang the whole song. The creative experience is so exhilarating when things flow like that!

Our loved ones never leave us. Energy can not be created or destroyed. I hold onto that and send you prayers and love. In turn I feel love returning to me, to us. It’s a subtle, cosmic feeling. Our perception of time is linear in modern life. So many boxes to tick along the way! I’ve missed a few. Every now and then I feel that connection to the moment, to something more, something infinite. That’s when love comes through and I know your energy goes on. You mind my life.

About

Michaele Archer is an Australian classically trained singer and composer and has performed nationally and internationally in Opera, Oratorio and concert. Michaele loves collaboration and unusual projects and highlights have included performances of “Brackish Songs” by indigenous composer Christopher Sainsbury and the first live performances of Schubert’s “Erlking” with a sand animation by Californian creator Benny Zelkowicz. Her original recording project “Galatea” was released in 2019.

Silphie is a collaboration with Michaele Archer (composer/vocal and harmonium), Rachel Whealy (cello), Giuseppe Zangari (guitar) and Gab Stelle (viola). The name Silphie comes from the ancient world’s herb Silphium which was used for everything from perfume and cooking to medicine. The latest recording project by Silphie, “Garland, the love poems of Sulpicia” is inspired by rich, raw sounds of analogue, alto instruments and ancient Latin poetry.

Sulpicia is a female voice that was lost for many years and her 6 love poems form the text for this project. Sulpicia lived around the time of Augustus in the first century BCE and her work is one of very few written by a Roman woman to survive. Her poems were published in a collection by the Roman male poet Tibullus and were originally attributed to him. Sulpicia’s Garland of poems tells the story of a secret love affair.

Stream

Connect

News and Touring

Gareth Koch Releases Single ‘Bossa Nova Latina’

October 10, 2024 Marshall Cullen

Bossa Nova is a relaxed style of Samba originating in Brazil. It is characterised by a calm syncopated rhythm with fingerstyle guitar chords mimicking the beat of a samba groove. A characteristic of the style is the use of unconventional chords & inventive harmonies. The popularity of bossa nova has helped to renew samba and contributed to the modernisation of Brazilian music.

Gareth continues the tradition of synthesising samba rhythm on the classical guitar for this track. His signature guitar sound evokes a smooth & effortless feel while the track is also punctuated with Spanish & flamenco flourishes.