raven – postfolkrocktronica by Peter Hollo

My longtime friend in improv, Clayton Thomas, has organised improv & experimental performances in Sydney for decades. He spent some time in NYC & Berlin but has been back here for a while, and in response to the genocide in Gaza, he has convened an ensemble called SOUND THE ALARM to try and do just that – use our musical voices to draw/retain/re-activate attention on the terrible crimes being committed by the State of Israel (in the name of Jewish safety, something I must use my own Jewish voice to categorically reject).
It's been a moving experience to perform with some remarkable improvisers at a number of happenings over the last year, one of which was a recording in a new Marrickville space at 21 Shepherd St, run by Michelle St Anne. That recording, with one substantial 42-minute work and two relatively shorter ones, is now released by Relative Pitch Records.
The third one is particularly beautiful and bracing. Over 12½ minutes, Maissa Alameddine reads the names of children murdered in Gaza before they reached 1 year old – an incomplete, still-growing list. It took minutes before it began to feel possible to insert our own sound, and I began to breathily play a mournful ostinato. As one of Marrickville's ubiquitous planes flew overhead, other instruments joined.
It's a rarity, I think, for free jazz/improv to be imbued with so much meaning (much though I am a wholly-engaged fan of the genre/non-genre). I'm very proud to be a participant.
You can stream/download it here, and CDs are available in various record stores. I have a handful if you'd like to contact me.