Canyons have had a busy yet exciting 2013. The duo toured the globe, performed at Melbourne Music Week in November, and collaborated with a world-renowned artist to deliver a unique and exciting audiovisual show.
However, the members are still prone to the occasional airport hiccup.
“I didn’t really think about how bad the traffic was going to be. I thought I left with plenty of time and then yeah, I was running lots of red lights. When we got there, of course, the flight had been delayed, which seems to happened to me every time I’m rushing to get to the airport,” Leo Thomson recalled.
Aside from coming close to missing flights, Thomson admits that 2013 has been great year for Canyons – one that was highlighted by a trip to America.
“We went out there, I think it was around April/end of April/start of May, and we DJ’ed at a party in New York and then Philadelphia. We then did a thing with a friend of ours out in Palm Springs.”
The two-piece have just finished working on a collaborative project with the world-renowned artist Daniel Boyd. The result? A live, immersive audiovisual performance entitled 100 Million Nights.
Despite being one of the most exciting shows in Australia, its inception was a casual affair.
“The visuals are kind of cosmic and they look kind of galactic”“Daniel Boyd is a friend of a friend. We used some of his visuals that he had created for an exhibition to project onto the stage when we were doing some live shows. We hadn’t actually worked together. It was separate work that he had created himself, and then we kind of just realised it worked quite well with our music.”
During the show, Canyons perform the piece (an original score by the duo) while Boyd explores and comments on the idea of cultural amnesia and the idea that we can never truly know our past.
“The visuals are kind of cosmic and they look kind of galactic. I think that’s obviously in the whole scheme of things. If we think about the history, where we come from and the planet, there’s a lot that’s just unknown.”
Considering it’s not a typical pub show by any means, and the performance contexts so far have been vastly different to where Canyons might normally find themselves (how many times have you seen a band play at an art gallery?), one might have to wonder what the audience makes of all this.
Though a pocket of people still manage to dance along to the electronic producers’ tunes, Thomson observes the contrast between 100 Million Nights and their past performances.
“One of the things that throws you a little bit is that people are really engaged in the visuals, so when you’re up on stage looking out at them, it looks like they’re staring at you and looking really bored – but they’re actually just absorbing all that’s going on.”
With such a different spatial context – one that changes according to the various venues and visual artistic influence – the intentional elements and take-homes of the performance aren’t so common compared to previous works.
“I guess we’re trying to create an overall experience where the audience are completely emerged in the audio and visual elements, and to create one unified feeling or experience so that it’s not just watching a band with some stuff going on in the background. We control the section of the visuals while we’re performing the music, so it’s all synced up. If a drastic musical change happens, that happens in the visuals, too.”
Performing as a four-piece while also managing their electro-psychedelic sonic palette isn’t the normal situation for Thomson and band mate Ryan Grieve. The three massive video panels behind them during a performance isn’t exactly what they’re used to either.
“I guess we’re trying to create an overall experience”Musically, the performance delves into modern techno, heavy dance influences, and psychedelia. The hour-long piece also takes inspiration from German electronica commonly referred to as Krautrock.
The Perth musician observes the changes. “It’s really exciting to get to see the different ways in which people relate and engage with the performance because it’s different, I guess, from performing a bunch of songs that people might know or whatever.”
“Half of their focus is on absorbing the visuals and watching how they relate to the music, so it’s been really interesting to play in a different context with a different perspective like that.”
The performance of 100 Million Nights will feature at the popular and enduring Sydney Festival this January. So, what is the artist’s take on the current state of the Australian festival scene?
“I would say that quality of quantity prevails. I don’t know how many more festivals we need with a DJ that starts with Armin Van-something on it. I’ve definitely seen the word ‘Armin Van’ on too many posters over the past two years.”
Speaking of festival promoters, “I think they have a responsibility to curate and bring interesting stuff to the country. It’s definitely sad the way it’s gone, but hopefully it will mean that the pendulum will swing the other way and there will be more perhaps smaller festivals that cater for more of a niche audience so that people can actually see what they want to see.”
With plans to take the show overseas with Boyd, Canyons are doing their best to contain their excitement as they tread a new path for 2014.
For full programme details, dates, venues, and tickets for the Sydney Festival, head to the Sydney Festival’s official website.
