A pair of contemporary Australian pieces, both drawing on a range of influences / musical streams - indeed, it was the panoply of such influences for "Soak", in particular (Eno, Part, Gorecki, ambient, filmic, jazz) which intrigued me. I could see why they were programmed together; I liked "Soak", which genuinely did blend all of the claimed influences, but found "The Hollow Air" (completely with shakuhachi) a bit too abstract to really grasp.
(w/ Ash and Penny @ Melb Recital Centre)
