Filipina-Australian electronic producer CORIN talks about her unique sound, influences and upcoming show for Now or Never at the Royal Exhibition Building.
For nearly a decade now, Corin Ileto has been releasing some of the most unique electronic music you’ll find in Australia. Pairing hyper-digital sounds with baroque-laden ambience, and backing it up with an immersive sense of chaos, she’s an artist you certainly need to know.
However, with a background that involved studying piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, CORIN’s exposure to electronic music didn’t come until much later. This background in classical music informed her unique approach, with the DIY process of learning platforms such as Ableton soon resulting in a full-blown immersion into the Australian electronic scene.
CORIN at Now or Never
- Ben Frost, CORIN, Eartheater and Gabber Modus Operandi will be performing
- Thurs 22 Aug | 6pm-11pm
- Royal Exhibition Building
- Tickets available here
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“I was really inspired by just some other artists that were around in Sydney and kind of listening to how they were doing things,” she explains. “I just began to be exposed to more online music communities.
“The first album I ever listened to that was electronic music, was a collaboration between German producer Alva Noto and Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto,” she adds. “Even when I listened to that, I was still kind of in the early days of figuring out everything.”
However, it was this confluence of words that saw the luscious elements of Sakamoto and the glitchy talents of Noto, which helped to inform the future that awaited CORIN. Soon, her music began to find itself out into the world, presented as a gorgeous blend of glitchy, pop-oriented electronic music, with piano and ambience thrown into the mix.
Her history of working in sound design would also inform the evolution of her sound. “I’ve always wanted a cinematic immersive quality to the music, and that’s probably partly derived from my interest in film music and making music for theatre spaces,” she says. “I’ve always been really influenced by film composition.”
Now, fresh from the release of last year’s Lux Aeterna album, CORIN will be visiting Melbourne on August 22nd for a performance at the Royal Exhibition Building as part of Now or Never. Featured on a lineup that also boasts Ben Frost, US producer Eartheater, and Indonesian duo Gabber Modus Operandi, her performance is set to be an impressive one.
In addition to her regular production being paired with live keyboard melodies and vocals, the show will feature the otherworldly visuals of Chinese-Malaysian Australian artist Tristan Jalleh as she presents her Lux Aeterna audio/visual experience.
“I always like to create a sort of narrative in my performances and the way the show flows from beginning to end in terms of the visual and presenting the music, I like to have this balance between lightness and darkness,” she explains.
“That theme is also reflective of themes within the album too,” she adds. “The name of the album means ‘eternal light’ in Latin, so I wanted to represent that in performance mode, and this show is really an expression of that.”
In addition to the visuals and the music, the scope of the show covers all facets of CORIN’s artistry and invites audiences to enter the many worlds she creates through her work.
“My music has always included this contemporary club music dimension to it,” she explains. “It feels like it might appeal to a classical music audience because it’s got these baroque melodies and I’m performing on the piano.
“Because of my interest in film and how I like to create this sort of cinematic quality to the visuals and the performance, I think what I’m really trying to do is create a show that is like a kind of collage of all these different worlds that are interesting and meaningful to me.”
For CORIN, an opportunity to play at the Royal Exhibition Building with such an impressive lineup is a meaningful full-circle moment.
“I don’t live in Melbourne anymore, but I was based for a couple of years, I’ve been exposed to a lot of local communities there, and performed at a lot of smaller clubs,” she remembers.
“So it’s exciting to come back to Melbourne, but to be presented on an international lineup amongst other artists that I really admire, I think that’s really special.”
Catch CORIN at the Royal Exhibition Building on Thursday, August 22 as part of Now or Never. Grab your tickets here.
Beat is an official media partner of Now or Never.
