Paul Gorrie
Stories & Ideas

Thu 17 Jan 2019

Paul Gorrie: A soundscape response to Cleverman

Australia Exhibition First Nations Representation Television

"Creating sound and art that speaks as a distraction from the injustices that take place every day on these lands is power."

These sounds are inspired by moments of the darkness, by moments of the light, by moments of the noise, by moments of the build up. In Cleverman, we saw this, we saw the slow build up that keeps everything mysterious. However, the Cleverman needs not to be mysterious anymore. The sounds themselves reverberate; the time for action and distraction. When listening to these sounds it will feel like everything is building up to its peak, and then it will come back down to reality.

Something that isn’t mysterious is the dark history of these lands. That's why, in these moments, at 4am, for the come up it needs to co-exist and find that moment; that place that exists away from darkness, the dark history, within the darkness, it needs this. To realise that just for a moment, a moment in time, it's a place to forget how fucked it all is, how unreal it all is, how good it could be without that mysterious dark history. Creating sound and art that speaks and appeals as a distraction from the injustices that take place every day on these lands is power. If the people you are making it for are listening to it, that is power. That is hope. That is resistance.

Now, imagine the world of Cleverman. Not so different is it? But in this we see hope. We see the superhero. We see the mysterious resistance. We see that in all of us. That moment we all feel we can be that.

These sounds are inspired by the moment that Koen West realises he is the Clevermanand that he has the power.

Paul Gorrie is a Gunai/Kurnai and Yorta Yorta man based in Narrm. Paul is a DJ, music producer and playwright.