I recently had the great pleasure of collaborating with composer Andrée Greenwell on 'After Julia', a song cycle about life after Julia Gillard that was performed at, and broadcast from, ABC's Ultimo studio. (You can find the podcast here.)
Andrée has created a new show, Gothic, for Sydney's Vivid Festival. To invoke the idea of 'gothic' in song, she's scored nineteenth-century texts, reimagined folksongs, and commissioned lyrics from writers, including myself. The others are Alison Croggon, Felicity Plunkett, Maryanne Lynch and Hugo Race.
I wrote a lyric inspired by Daphne Du Maurier's short story 'The Birds'. It's interesting how little the story has to do with Hitchcock's film. Far away from American sophistication and Tippi Hedron's glamour, the original is set on the bleak Cornish coastline, its protagonist a disabled middle-aged farmer. Written in 1952, it's a thrilling, unnerving read that speaks to our present relationship with the natural world.
If you're in Sydney, check us out: Gothic
May 27-29 at the Seymour Centre.
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