HYPNOS Released today

The album HYPNOS is available today only from my website. It will be released on streaming platforms in April but if you want to support me, go direct!

We will be launching it this evening with a live performance at Tempo Rubato in Brunswick at 8pm. Limited tickets still available from HERE

Both my children Calista (violin, piano and vocals) and Lazarus (cello) will be joining me on stage for the very first time to help with this celebration.. The first set will be the music from Hypnos performed live. Electronic sounds blend with the acoustic trio to take the listener on a hypnotic journey through the inner cosmos. The second will be a collection of songs from the Amanaska album Escape and some rarities! I hope you can join us.

New Album Finished

I have been chipping away at a project that I have had on the go inspired my my Tuesday night live streams I presented in lockdown. It is quite an ambient offering and my first self titled release since Through My Eyes in 1996! Next stage is to plan some kind of launch that will involve a live performance so stay tuned.

Here’s sample track for your listening pleasure.

Little Tornadoes single released today

I have had the honour of writing the title song for the film Little Tornadoes that is being released in cinemas in Australia on May 12th. The song was recorded and produced in Melbourne with singer Sal Kimber and began it’s life as a 70s rock song and ended up becoming a moody atmospheric vibe after the director saw a video of Sal and I rehearsing the song with piano and guitar.

Available now on all the usual streaming platforms

Written and director by Aaron Wilson (Canopy) and co-written by The Slap author Christos Tsiolkas, this heartfelt and affecting period drama depicts a newly-single father’s efforts to weather the turbulence of change – in his life adnd in the world around him.

The film distils the many upheavals of 1970s Australia – from immigration and post-war resettlement, to anti–Vietnam War protests and the women’s liberation movement – into a narrative about one man’s struggle to adapt and a new immigrant endeavouring to find her place in a foreign land. LITTLE TORNADOES is a portrait of a country at a turning point and the human desire for connection.

Birthdays Galore

This week I am celebrating my birthday and one year since the first performance of Prayers Of The Isolated. I am as surprised as everyone else to find ourselves still in lock down one year on. It has been a tough year for artists with an unending string of cancellations. This project had a profound effect on my state of mind last year and gave me a sense of connection with all these amazing musicians from around the world. Since then I have been fortunate to do a small handful of live shows with some of them and missed out on many more.

This week in ‘Amanaska Live From the Studio’ I want to honor them all and give thanks for an amazing journey so far, and a prayer to hang in there for a bit longer to get through this thing together.

I will be staying on after the performance for a Q&A if anyone is interested in a virtual kind of after gig hang. Links and info will be posted on the night.

Peace to all. Simon

JOIN ME VIA THIS LINK

Things to do in Lockdowns

We currently find ourselves in Lockdown number 6 in Melbourne. Just when we barely got out of 5 and thought we were good to go! Very harsh. Gigs cancelled galore! Massive bummer.

I decided to use some of my time in last lockdown to compose some music to enter this scoring competition and thought I would share my entry. Quite different to my usual style but super fun. I hope you like it

Little Tornadoes

Recently I have had the honour and please of working with Australian film director Aaron Wilson composing and recording the title song for his latest film ‘Little Tornadoes’

The film will have it’s world premiere next month, August 12th, at Melbourne International Film Festival A commercial cinema release planned towards the end of 2021. There is also a soundtrack album planned for release later in the year along with a film clip for the song so stay tuned. Here is the trailer to wet your appetite

For MIFF screening details around Victoria visit HERE

Missing the Connection

I was at a live show in Melbourne recently chatting to someone who had watched my Prayers of the Isolated during our long COVID lockdown in 2020 and said it really moved them. i had kind of forgotten about it of late. Things were opening up here in Melbourne again with gigs starting to happen as we entered our ‘COVID normal’ stage. Now in lockdown 4, I thought I would upload it to YouTube for anyone that cares to see it again or for the first time. I enjoyed rewatching it and seeing all those beautiful musicians contributions again.

It was a very powerful experience for me to put together emotionally and technically challenging. It was taking multi-tasking to the extreme for sure.

Prayer Project Launch and Birthday Celebration

This Tuesday 25th is Eposide 17 of my livestream and also my birthday on the 27th so I decided it would be the perfect time to have the launch for my new project ‘Prayers of The Isolated’

It came about as a way to connect with other musicians I have worked with previously in Australia and internationally. During this extended period of isolation I have really missed playing live with others and reacting to their sounds and ideas. Jamming live over the internet is almost impossible due to bandwidth issues etc.. This seemed like a relative simple way to get a feel of connecting, as I can see and hear them making their sounds in front of me while I play. (even though it is on a screen)

I composed a short guide track that everyone has used to sing or play over. Each musician filmed themselves performing with the track in their headphones and sent me the raw footage. It has been a very moving, surprising and humbling experience to receive each contribution as they come in.

I have cut the raw footage up into smaller clips and loaded them into a video instrument I designed using VDMX5. Each clip can be triggered at random from a remote control interface I created using Lemur, with up to 4 players at any one time. This will allow me to play my instruments live and be able to trigger the clips in any order, depending where the music takes us on the night!

I hope you can join me for the launch this Tuesday on the LIVE FACEBOOK STREAM