Regrowth

This piece won the 2021 Madeby composition prize. Monique Mangano won the choreography part to this competition, and her dance to the the piece can be seen in the video.

Regrowth was written inspired by the beautiful scene of our Australian forests regrowing after the catastrophic bushfires of 2019-20. Seeing our forests stripped bare as far as the naked eye could see was immensely disturbing. And in stark contrast, only one month later, seeing how strong the force of nature really is as greenery began to emerge from the blackness was truly astonishing. Not only did this catastrophic event highlight the strength of nature, but the strength of humanity. In hardship, communities came together, people of all backgrounds helping each other, showing immense courage and compassion. But even more astounding, was as nature rebuilt, so did the people. People whose land had been burnt to nothing told inspiring stories of birds, pythons and kangaroos returning to their habitats, of the beauty they saw as nature rebuilt itself and of how grateful they were to live in their country and community.

Regrowth is an electro-acoustic track for pre-recorded string ensemble. Using my string instruments, I tried to re-create the sounds and atmosphere of a forest rebuilding itself; rain falling, wood cracking, birds returning and leaves growing. The track begins imitating the organic sound of rain. I did this by recording the wood of my bow tapping on the strings (colegno) of my violin and viola. I layered about 15 different recordings of this sound, time stretching half at random to produce more chaotic rhythms. As melodic lines gradually emerge, the irregularity of the rain sounds become progressively more and more organised, and as rhythms emerge, so does harmony, melody and structure. This represents our forests complex eco systems rebuilding and hopefully embodies the incredible resilience of our Australian people, Flora and Fauna.