BY CHRISTOPHER LEON, GLOBAL SERIES EDITOR
Mary Lattimore + Julianna Barwick
Dark Mofo
Odeon Theatre, 23 June
What does an electric harp with loop pedals and sound effects sound like when layered a dozen times?
It sounds bloody cool.
Mary Lattimore kicked off this performance inside the Dark Mofo playground that is Hobart’s Odeon Theatre. Her solo harp performance included several works featured on her latest album Hundreds of Days.
Mary started with relatively simple progressions, and began looping layer upon layer with melodic tweaks, bass, and plucked chords to create a lush musical experience.
Despite the uncountable layers of loops, Mary’s music managed to distill in each one a distinct timbre, such as plucked attack, harp effects, or crescendos. The result was an enjoyable and unique performance of a harp player’s ability to push their instrument beyond its traditional confines, and dare to express a new sound for the instrument – one which is incredibly flexible and dynamic.
Composer and performer Julianna Barwick took to the stage after Mary to try her hand at looping her ethereal vocals and rather heavy piano sounds. Julianna’s performance was good, but failed to match the consistency of timbre that Mary had presented with her set: the electric piano sounds felt too harsh in what was to be an “otherworldly” experience as noted on the Dark Mofo event listing. Julianna’s voice was pure and precise but, through several layers of being looped, didn’t seem to maintain its musicality and became more of a loud, blaring noise than a cohesive ethereal tone. This was attributed to the volume and mixing, rather than Julianna’s vocal skill.
The performance concluded with a duet of Mary and Julianna, performing simultaneously with their own styles blended together. This brought back the attention of the waning audience appetite (indeed, many people had been walking around and out of the performance area; though this certainly wasn’t a rigid classical music site requiring their constant seating). It was a suitable way to finish the evening’s event.
READ NEXT: Mary Lattimore talks about the program, working with Julianna, and the massive harp for this Dark Mofo program.
Images supplied. Mary captured by Jacky Lee Young.
