Hills sound alive

By Paul Pickering
IT MAY be called The Hills Are Alive but there will be no mistaking Rod Price’s soundtrack for the hills with that of its blockbuster musical namesake.
Mr Price, 25, will perform his dense soundscape of the Shire of Yarra Ranges at Burrinja in Upwey this Friday 30 November from 7.30pm.
Far from the frolicking fare of The Sound of Music, the emerging Upper Ferntree Gully multimedia artist’s sonic journey through the hills is dominated by a dark and industrial aesthetic that is sure to challenge the local audience.
Over the past year, the RMIT Fine Arts (Sound) graduate has been compiling field recordings from different parts of the shire, from popular tourist sites to the most isolated areas of dense forest.
Among the sounds that will be most familiar to locals will be the iconic clatter of Puffing Billy, the eerie ambience of the Warburton cave system and the screeching of tyres on the winding roads of Mount Dandenong.
Mr Price has manipulated those sounds – and added electronically-generated material – to create an immersive surround-sound performance.
“The idea is to take advantage of – or celebrate – the dynamic sound range of the hills environment,” he said last week.
Mr Price says the project, which has been funded and supported by Arts Victoria and the Shire of Yarra Ranges, will also introduce many locals to the typically urban genres of electro-acoustic, dark ambient and industrial electronic music.
“It’s about bringing a niche sound culture to the hills and offering it to a new audience,” he said.
For more information on The Hills Are Alive, visit www.myspace.com/hillsounds.
Friday night’s performance is a free event.