In early 2013 the duo were approached by contemporary dance choreographer Wayne McGregor (The Royal Ballet, La Scala Theatre Ballet of Milan, Random Dance Company – best known to Australian audiences as the choreographer of The Australian Ballet’s Helpmann Award-winning work Chroma) and asked to create an original score for his latest work ATOMOS.
“We went into it really not knowing anything about the dance world,” notes O’Halloran. “Wayne was a really great collaborator – he gave us a lot of freedom. A few of our friends had also worked with him in the past so we had a lot of trust in him.”
“Before Wayne contacted us we actually had a lot of new music that we’d previously been working on,” adds Wiltzkie. “After Wayne contacted us we completely dropped everything, we didn’t want to bring anything over to this project. We wanted to start totally fresh and create something completely new.”
“Before we had even began writing all four of the premiere shows had been booked. There was no greater fire under our arses,” laughs O’Halloran. “We had to come up with 70 minutes worth of music in four months. There was no going back.”
Fast-forward to October 2013 and ATOMOS had its world premiere at London’s historic Sadler’s Wells Theatre. “At the premiere, we finally got to watch the piece come to life,” adds Wiltzkie. “It was then that we just stared at each other in the orchestra pit and realised that this should be our next album.
“It sounds cliché, but we had no idea that this was going to happen. When you’re working on something so intensely over four months, you’re not really thinking to yourself that this is something that could stand alone by itself. We just wanted to create something that worked as a score for the dance – not something that was its own separate entity. We were really lucky that it turned out as well as it did.”
Following this orchestral epiphany, the two began the process of recording the follow-up to their self-titled 2011 debut, ATOMOS the record, which was released last month on seminal ambient labels Kranky and Erased Tapes. “The process was pretty much a reverse of anything that we’ve done before,” notes O’Halloran. “When we were working on the piece we were playing things almost immediately after we wrote them. That never happens. Generally you always write something, you record it, then you figure out the live process. Everything happened so fast. We didn’t even have anything recorded until after the premiere. It was a very interesting process, but it worked.”
The resulting body of work was 11 sweeping soundscapes with grand pianos, swelling strings and light electronics combining to create delicate and highly immersive ambience. “Our very good friend Francesco Donadello, who also introduced us in Italy, had recently moved to Berlin so we were able to work in his beautiful analogue studio for ATOMOS,” details Wiltzkie. “Dustin also took a trip to Iceland to work with Ben Frost on some of the tracks on the record, to revamp some of the overtones and movements.”
The duo also worked with Frost on the three-track EP ATOMOS VII, which was released in July this year to precede the album. “Coincidentally, Ben also worked with Wayne McGregor on his dance work previous to ATOMOS called Far,” adds O’Halloran. “When Wayne initially contacted us we asked Ben for his opinion and whether or not we should give it a go. He told us, ‘Guys, when it comes to dance, you have nowhere to go but down after working with Wayne’.”
“Wayne is a really special guy in the dance world,” notes Wiltzkie. “What he does is so unique, and the way that he brings together music with his choreography – it’s so intelligent. As Ben said, Wayne’s been doing this for over 20 years. If we were to work with dance again I’m not sure where we’d go. But we’d definitely be open to it if the right project came along.”
“I was thinking this morning, when I was watching a video of glaciers melting, that someone should put on a concert for the glaciers,” adds O’Halloran. “Because it’s pretty much the end of the world. I’d totally be up for that.”
“Yeah, playing on a glacier and then melting in the sea,” laughs Wiltzkie.
“As this point in my life, things that inspire me to write and compose, it’s much less about music, it’s things like visual art, especially,” he continues. “Going to museums and looking at paintings has a far more profound effect on myself and my work than listening to records.”
While Wiltzkie was in Australia earlier this year for an Adelaide-exclusive performance with Stars of the Lid at Unsound Festival, this weekend will mark the debut shows Down Under for AWVFTS, which will see them perform accompanied by a string quartet. “Performing ATOMOS live comes very easily these days,” details O’Halloran. “We played it so often with the orchestra at the Wayne McGregor Random Dance Company. But as it’s the very first time we’ve ever performed together in Australia alongside tracks from ATOMOS we’ll also be playing a few tracks from our first record.
“This will be the first time I’ve ever played in Australia,” he adds. “It’s one of those places that you don’t imagine that you’ll ever be able to go because it’s so far away and very expensive for us to get there.” As for Wiltzkie’s thoughts on returning to Australia? “There’s a total douchebag running every country, but Tony Abbott? Damn. He’s a special one for sure.”
Following their journey to Australia, the duo will then tour around Europe and close off the year with a run of concert hall performances in the United States before returning to their separate endeavours in 2015. “After we finish all of this touring I think I’m going to get back to work on making another solo album,” notes O’Halloran. “I believe Adam is going to get back to work with Stars of the Lid.”
“Oh man, I’d love to finish another Stars of the Lid record before I die,” laughs Wiltzkie.
BY TYSON WRAY
