​The Bass Coast sound

Max Richter records his Bass Hills soundtrack under the watchful eye of recording engineer and local musician Dave Prideaux.

By Laura Brearley
 
LOVE of place is a contagious thing. Spending time with people who love where they live is an inspiring thing to do. In the past few weeks, Terry and I have had the extra joy of hanging out with local musicians who have been composing and recording soundtracks for the series of short films we are making for the Coastal Connections project.
 
Just to remind you, Coastal Connections is the Council-funded community well-being project in which local people are expressing their love of blue and green places through different creative forms, including writing, photography, painting, music and film.
 
Just before Christmas, we finished the first cuts of six of the films and the musicians were able to start the process of composing music for the films. As they began their work, Terry and I headed down to Mallacoota for Christmas with our family. It was a year since the bushfires and it was both poignant and healing to be there. Christmas Day was spent with the extended family at the new house my daughter’s mother-in-law has bought since losing hers in last Summer’s bushfires.

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We returned to the Island and the new musical compositions started to arrive. They are quite different from each other, and each has its own beauty. The music has been written to support an interplay of interviews with community members and images of nature. Mark Finsterer’s liquid guitar flows seamlessly with the water at Harmers Haven and Catherine Watson’s words. Max Richter’s composition weaves together different themes for the Bass Hills film. He blends his guitar with an angelic chorus of Jacqui, Dani and Jess Paulson at a moment in the film just as the sun breaks through the trees. It looks and sounds quite heavenly.
 
There is reflective and playful music in the soundtrack that Lyndal Chambers and Brian ‘Strat’ Stating have composed for the Inverloch Inlet film. Their music reveals the contemplative and joyful aspects of people’s relationships with their special places. Rosie Westbrook is a talented and experienced film composer. Her composition for the Western Port Waterline film is lyrical and reflects the gentle beauty of waves lapping on the shore. In quite a different style, Robin Lowe has written an upbeat song for the Bunurong Coast film and invited talented local musicians Leigh Owens and Jake Amy to accompany him. We did a film shoot of them playing the Bunurong Coast song at the Rescue Station Arts Coop, a great venue for music and with a rich history. 

Robin Lowe invited local musicians Leigh Owens, left, and Jake Amy to accompany him for the recording of the Bunurong Coast soundtrack at the Rescue Station Arts Co-op.

​Ben Cavender is a musician whose performance name is CAVEMANverses. Ben is also a sound artist and while interviews with community members were still being conducted, he visited many places in Bass Coast to record sounds of nature. Most of his recordings were done at dawn and dusk and they feature bird calls, frogs and the sound of wind in the trees. He has recorded the rich and rolling texture of surf and the subtle sounds of lapping waves at Western Port and the Inverloch Inlet. Composers have had access to his recordings for inspiration and inclusion in their compositions. His recordings have been interwoven through the films and bring a visceral sense of proximity to nature. Ben’s sounds of nature invite us into a world of deep listening. You will be able to hear the audio palette he has created in the Coastal Connections Virtual Exhibition that we are currently developing with West Gippsland Libraries.
 
It was through Ben that we met the gifted musician Dave Prideaux, who we commissioned to compose for the Millowl Coast film. Dave is a multi-instrumentalist and chose to use keyboard and vocals in his composition. There is a moment in the film that is almost subliminal when Dave slowly sings the word ‘Millowl’ in banked up harmonies. That point of the film catches me every time and brings me close to tears. Dave is a masterful musician and is also a recording engineer. He has mixed and mastered a number of the Coastal Connections compositions in his new and beautiful Sunderland Studio. Max Richter recorded his Bass Hills soundtrack there and last week, we visited the Studio with friends and family to record the Acknowledgement Song I have written called ‘We Honour the Land’.
 
Terry and I are currently working on the seventh Coastal Connections film which has a Bass Coast-wide focus. We are in the middle of conducting our interviews with community leaders for the film and will be giving the first draft of the film to composer Larry Hills next Friday. He has two weeks to compose the soundtrack and work with Terry on the editing process for the final cut of the film. No pressure. (Thanks for your patience and professionalism, Larry).
 
We’re now deep in preparations for a COVID-safe Coastal Connections Concert which is going to be held at the Wonthaggi Union Community Arts Centre at 2-4.30pm on Saturday, February 20. The seven Coastal Connections films will be shown publicly for the first time and will be launched by the Mayor, Brett Tessari. The local musicians who composed the film soundtracks will introduce their new works and perform excerpts from their compositions. The Concert will also feature First Nations musicians who have strong connections to the local region. Under current COVID restrictions, the Arts Centre can safely seat 300 people and we are expecting the Concert to sell out. Tickets go on sale on Monday February 1.
 
We hope you can join us for this celebration of our creative community and the blue and green places we share and love.

Coastal Connections Concert, Wonthaggi Union Community Arts Centre, 2-4.30pm,  Saturday, February 20.

Recording the Acknowledgement Song, from left, Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir, Matua (Uncle)
Arnold Tihema, Robin Monet, Leo Wood-Ingram and Laura Brearley