BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Have you ever looked into your rattan-framed mirror and asked: Am I a hipster?
I wonder this sometimes. I have glasses that are too big for my face. I drink coffee like it’s going out of fashion. (It’s most definitely not.) I have many indoor plants. Most of them are mostly alive.
Even as I write, my skinny jeans are pulling at my knees under the desk. I have pencils on my desk with ironic affirmations engraved into the wood: False hope is better than no hope. I own an overpriced tablet, but I’ll always use pencils.
It’s hipster reflections like these that Nicholas Vines ponders in Indie Ditties. The Australian composer — who wouldn’t necessarily define himself as a hipster, despite being called one by an eaves-dropper in a coffee shop — has written a suite of 12 preludes dedicated to the subculture.
Each prelude examines a piece of attire (black-framed glasses), past-time (consumption of boutique-brewery beer), or lifestyle choice (moustache and tats) commonly associated with “hipsterdom”.
Though originally composed to spark joy among performers and examiners of the New South Wales Higher School Certificate exams, it’s now — totally without irony — going to have an Australian premiere at the actual Sydney Opera House. And London-based Australian pianist Rob Hao will be the one to do it.
(As an aside, you’ll be able to read this piano virtuoso’s take on Indie Ditties when we publish our next interview in this little series. Rob’s the one in the picture below; Nicholas in our image above.)
Here, Nicholas introduces us to his ditties that have irony (and post-irony) composed into every note, working its way through form and theme. Once you’ve heard the story, then heard the music, you might feel closer to accepting the fact that you could be a hipster, too.
Nicholas, your Indie Ditties makes reference to hipster subculture. So I’d like to learn what ‘hipster’ means to you — how you would define the subculture and its qualities.
For me, a hipster is someone who embraces an alternative mainstream, where ‘authenticity’ is valued over pervasive social, political, and economic norms.
The hipster is a kind of modern-day Romantic, with a real nostalgia for the pre-modern and pre-industrial. While I’m partial to such liberated views, the sometimes draconian way they are enforced – with strict expectations regarding lifestyle and worldview – is a little puzzling to me.
But hey, such contradictions are fruitful creatively, hence Indie Ditties.
You’ve composed Indie Ditties in the form of 12 preludes in the classical tradition. Why did you want to draw from older forms to depict contemporary culture? Is this itself an example of hipster irony — or post-irony, if you like?
Good question! On one hand, exploring contemporary themes through older forms mirrors the irony of hipsters applying their liberal values inflexibly.
On the other, it’s a genuine, post-ironic celebration of a centuries-old tradition which has somehow survived the modern world.
And there’s a practical reason, too: Indies Ditties was written with NSW HSC requirements in mind, and so reflects the kind of music – i.e. 19th-Century standards – examinees are used to playing.
You’ve come up with some topical themes for the movements, from skinny jeans to organic lifestyles, brand-related love, and unnecessary black-framed glasses. Why do you think icons like these are significant in hipster subculture?
I think these are concrete ways for hipsters to articulate their values.
There is of course the conundrum of harnessing sophistry, subterfuge, and consumerism to promote a culture which ostensibly rejects all those things, but that’s the price of getting the message out there, I suppose.
So how did you come up with the particular stories behind the ditties, anyway?
Storytelling is something Western art music lost a while ago, and I think that’s a big reason why many (post)modern works lack staying power.
To combat that, I put considerable thought into the ‘stories’ behind each movement. My inspiration was the renaissance of old-fashioned narrative in high-end TV: certainly, I use allusion, climax, and dramatic irony liberally throughout the set.
As for each ditty’s particulars, I guess they come from my own quiet observation of hipsterdom over many years.
So how can we hear hipsterism? You’ve put great thought into the structure and tonality of your work, but I’d love to know how this theme shines through — aurally speaking.
Hmm, that’s a complex one! I mentioned allusion above: different ditties use different modes, tonalities, and quotations to evoke different hipster-centric scenarios. For example, the tenth movement is a mash-up of 13 different pre-existing pop songs, depicting the protagonist’s struggle with her ever-so mainstream musical tastes.
Dramatic irony is also common, being inherent to the structure of most movements. Generally, I use an old-school sonata-form principle – exposition of material, followed by development through fragmentation and recontextualisation – to portray how alternative ideals are upended by reality.
And of course, the audience’s experience – hearing old-fashioned stories with contemporary content realised on an outdated instrument using modern pitch resources – is by definition kind of hipstery.
In your program notes, you write that you’ve used the piano to communicate a part of yourself. If you were to describe yourself as a dittie, how would you do it?
To be honest, there’s more than a little bit of me in the 12 ditties I’ve already written. I’m a bit of fantasist – what composer isn’t? – so the real world effectively crushes my dreams and delusions as much as it does the ditties’ clueless characters.
Nevertheless, your ditties are about to have an Australian concert premiere with piano virtuoso Rob Hao. Why is he the perfect hipster-not-hipster to play its first local performance?
Rob is indeed the perfect hipster-not-hipster. Though many paths are open to him, he has decided to pursue something arcane: that is, virtuosic piano-playing, with a focus not just on old favourites, but also the new and unknown. And yet, Rob is completely unassuming about his ‘alternative’ choices and achievements.
I think his approach to his art very much embodies the Indie Ditties spirit, making him the ideal interpreter for this local premiere.
Your works have been recorded in the past — one of your albums is called Hipster Zombies from Mars — and with this premiere, I wonder: What power does the hipster hold, now and in the future?
That’s an interesting question. In my own work, I’m not sure I’ll focus explicitly on hipster culture again. I tend to have a lot of different interests, and like each project to be something new. But the anomalies between principle and practice so encapsulated by my alternative stereotypes will always be compelling for me, so they’ll never be too far from my thoughts.
As for the subculture itself, I remember a decade ago, when I started floating the idea of Indie Ditties, a couple of people urged me to hurry up before hipsterdom itself disappeared. Well, it hasn’t — and after several decades of consistent vibrancy, I can’t imagine it will!
There will always be distrust of the modern(ist) mainstream, in one form or another.
Before we go, are you or are you not a legit hipster?
Though I’m sympathetic to hipster ideals, I wouldn’t call myself one: my appearance and lifestyle are certainly all wrong.
If you asked a legit hipster whether I was a legit hipster, well, they’d probably express their disapproval of labels and such. But in the end, I don’t think they’d consider me one either.
That said, a parent of one of my students once overheard me conversing in a café, and when relaying the story to his kid, referred to me as a ‘hipster’. So guess it depends on who you ask!
See pianist Rob Hao perform the Australian premiere of Nicholas Vines’ Indie Ditties this 8 April at the Sydney Opera House. (There’s Schubert and Chopin on the program, too.)
Images supplied.
