Bower (CD)

The incomparable Genevieve Lacey –performer, composer and creator of poetic, sensual worlds –joins with internationally acclaimed Australian harpist Marshall McGuire to explore the unique power of music to offer comfort and renewal.

‘Music’s my element, something I need, like air and light. But for most of 2020, musicians couldn’t make live music with or for other people. What to do, when the world tilts so sharply that it’s hard to stand? ‘During this time of isolation, people theworld round are yearning for shelter, both physical and spiritual. So I assembled a cast of people whose work I love, some of whom I’dnever met: a harpist and a recording engineer, eight living composers, eight dead ones, two visual artists, a writer, filmmaker,lighting designer and producer. And together, we set out to create a sense of shelter: a nest, woven with memories, heart, hope. My mind went to bowerbirds and their obsessive collecting habits. And also, their ability to build magical architecture out of fragments —structures that entwine art and survival. Slowly, gently, through a close-to-home, quietly attentive year, we each created our own versions of sanctuary. And then sifted, sorted and fashioned them into a bower.’The exquisite album artwork, created by Gracia Habyand Louise Jennison, reflects the beauty and richness of the musical soundscapes presented on this album: sublime new music by Lou Bennett, Andrea Keller, Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey, John Rodgers, Lachlan Skipworth, Bree van Reykand ErkkiVeltheim, side by side with musical treasures reaching back across six centuries.