Meredith Beardmore - Album Review
Flute explorations and field recordings make up an autobiographical aural map in an effort to reflect the nature of memory
Noah reviews Scribbly Gums by Meredith Beardmore
Scribbly Gums is a conceptual exploration into a collection of memories performed using a one-keyed baroque flute and the use of field recordings as interludes intertwined throughout to create this unique album. The music fits in the genre field of free music and contemporary classical. It is an an autobiographical aural map that encompasses various childhood memories in the outer suburbs of Meanjin/Brisbane and some more recent memories in Naarm/Melbourne and also Kingaroy/Wakka Wakka country for musician Meredith Beardmore. These various memories are connected within a larger web of memory-scapes. In a collage type technique Beardmore then manipulates, reorders and tinkers with the flute explorations and field recordings in an effort to reflect the nature of memory and fit into the present.
Beardmore has a connection to the Scribbly gum, which is a type of Eucalyptus tree that has a distinctive scribbly pattern on the bark due to scribbly gum moths, which I feel reflects the sounds, almost like Beardmore is the moth making the patterns of music. These trees are unique to the east coast of Australia where Beardmore grew up, which is a couple of kilometres away from a Scribbly Gum Conservation Area and are now represented through this unique musical journey.
1. Prelude: Murmurations over Heather Avenue (1:31)
It feels like the sound of the beginning of something, like waking up to the wind outside as you ease into the day with this gentle opening track.
2. Scribbly Gums (7:34)
The title track is filled with great depth, as musical movements are being made in time, a weaving of layers, sometimes overlapping and also merging. This extended work tells a story of the scribbly gum and Beardmore’s deep connection to it. It’s hypnotic in it’s rhythm and also mediative with the space that it allows in between the sounds reminiscent of Colin Stetson and Steve Reich.
3. Winter (5:26)
The song reflects the slowness of winter and the cold scraping along the land. I feel the tension between the layers of sound as the highs and lows interact. I wonder what winter memories are being imagined by Beardmore to create this work.
4. Interlude: Merri Ramblings (1:55)
The sound of a baby voices in nature bring a lightness to this interlude and the calm sounds of water which I imagine is from Merri Creek allow for this calm space amongst the more distinctive flute pieces.
5. In the Garden: Spring (6:07)
There is optimism and hope that I hear, being out of winter, spring has now sprung. It is playful in the performance, like birds singing a cheerful song, the lightness is wonderful with this the most cheerful song on the album.
6. Interlude: Gresswell Counterpoint (1:17)
The field recordings in nature build as a sea of birds and other abundant wildlife make sounds, amongst the wind in the trees. It’s evocative and finds it’s place in and amongst these memory-scapes.
7. Red Dirt (5:27)
With memory I believe the environment is a major part of the experience when remembering and to put it into context. Red Dirt speaks to the connection with earth and the re-telling of memory in that place. There can be great symbolism that speaks through sounds as it is with the track.
8. Interlude: Schellbach’s Chorus (1:01)
A heavy wind of sounds, manipulated and sped up in time to create a bit of chaos as an interlude, which melds perfectly with the next track as a heavy wind into a night breeze.
9. Night Breeze Through My Bedroom Window (5:02)
This track feels like night time. It’s slow and reminiscent of the feeling of winding down before sleep. The sounds represent the breeze through Beardmore’s bedroom window. The tension with the high and low notes ebb and flow throughout the track as the sounds fade, I feel you could drift off to sleep.
10. Epilogue: New Moon (2:29)
New moon was created as a conclusion to the aural map created by Beardmore and finishes telling the story. The concept of a new moon is telling to represent the end being that the Sun and Moon are aligned, with the Sun and Earth on opposite sides of the Moon. A very poetic thought as the album comes to a quite an abrupt end.
Purchase Scribbly Gums
By Meredith Beardmore here through Nunc Records
For upcoming shows and more information visit here