Spiritual experience at 2016 Fringe Festival
Hamilton composer Kent Macpherson wants to give his audience a spiritual experience with a musical performance at The 2016 Hamilton Fringe Festival.
His group The Unseen Mechanised Eye uses ancient Māori musical instruments paired with contemporary electronic manipulation and looped cello to create its hypnotic atmosphere.
The audience will sit at the groups level, and Macpherson says they should feel comfortable to bring beanbags and even fall asleep.
“It would be great if the crowd fell asleep! It could be a very spiritual experience,” Macpherson said.
Macpherson uses an analog synthesizer to create the drone effect, which he said sounds “perfect” for this kind of project.
All pieces are instrumental with no song titles, and no lyrics.
“You get lost in it, it’s a weird kind of love with two other musicians in a room and people watching,” Kent said.
The collective features Macpherson (drone machines), Rob Thorne (taonga puoro), Yotam Levy (cello), Paul Nelson (visuals) and Dan Reese (mixing).
Composing sonic art comes as a result of Kent’s tutoring role at Waikato Institute of Technology.
His position as a Media Arts lecturer gave him an opportunity to dedicate time to research.
“Was I going to continue writing music and put music out there or was I going to do what sonic artists do?”
- The performance is at Clarence St Theatre on Friday March 11. Doors open 7.30pm, $10/5, children under 16 free.
