Observing diversity in unity

Lao Tzu opined: "Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides."

You think of the Chinese philosopher's saying while listening to Ronnie 2014, a song named after a friend on Salvation, a disc from Kelvin Tan's birthday suite, The 50.

That friend, Ronnie Yeo, hanged himself when they were both 16. As Tan celebrates his own half-century existence this month, he commemorates Yeo and other contemporaries who have died young as reminders to not take life for granted.

I was reviewing Tan's five-disc boxset just as I heard terrible news that the American comedian Robin Williams had died in an apparent suicide from asphyxiation.

"I remember, I remember your heart... and sometimes life just gets us down and sometimes life just seems to break our hearts... You left too soon," Tan sings on the track, closely miked, as he strums his acoustic guitar.

It's a heartfelt elegy addressed to Yeo, but the words are fitting for Williams too, who was well known for his large heart and being giving in his craft.

That's the gift of Tan, the stubborn old wolf.

He can be ridiculously obtuse, ceaselessly referencing a gazillion sources, from the Bible (the albums come with alternative Hebrew titles) to jazz legends (John Coltrane, Charlie Haden) and avant-garde composers (John Zorn) - and yet at the same time, he can speak plainly and nail it.

Listen to the near-10-minute title track 50, a brilliant mission statement: "I don't think about how we're going to live tomorrow, because tomorrow I may be gone. I don't think much about the pain and sorrow, because there's too much to do," he sings over buttery strums.

Even when things get rough, this guy isn't going to go gently.

Any surprise he'd pay tribute to Lou Reed, the rock iconoclast who died last October with a rollickin' rocker Gold (from the disc Restoration), effortlessly mimicking the latter's devil-may-care slurs? He becomes Reed, a possession so uncanny, you smile.

By invoking spirits of pals and music heroes past, the musician lives many lives, and deaths, without regret.

Similarly unrepentant are art rock collective The Observatory.

Whereas 2012's Catacombs is dark and insular, their sixth release Oscilla swings outwards.

It scans the deplorable state of the world, questions war and strife, and assesses the value of life.

To that end, its restless, angular riffs cut and draw blood.

The gently wispy-voiced Leslie Low sings in a gravelly baritone these days, intoning at the least like a Nick Cave in a shamanistic kaftan. It suits the material.

The ever-propulsive Autodidact and Subterfuge are sparked by an inner fire, to right the wrongs and to take up arms when inertia is easier.

Two of the longest tracks here manifest the band's prog-rock leanings. Oscilla moves in a squall of mercurial electric riffs, thunderous drums (care of new drummer Cheryl Ong) and industrial synths and F/X (by electronic artist Yuen Chee Wai).

The ominous martial drums underscore Distilled Ashes, as Low casts a dispassionate eye across the postapocalyptic detritus.

Are you alive or really just the walking dead? The Observatory prick your conscience and soldier on before you can answer.

Listen to the polyphony of voices in music and realise the importance of diversity in unity

Sound Bites

Albums of the week

INDIE ROCK/FOLK/EXPERIMENTAL

The 50

Kelvin Tan Aporia

4****

ART ROCK

Oscilla

The Observatory The Observatory

4****

Metal/Post-hardcore

GLASS SILVER LINING

Avalanche Avalanche

3***

Avalanche live up to their name.

Glass Silver Lining, their debut album recorded in Melbourne with Callan Orr, pounds hard, but there's a dizzying fluidity to the whole thing, you gladly drown in its undertow.

Kammal Vojodi is a screaming beast, spitting vowels like fireballs, while the rest of his kakis, guitarist Irfan Ramli, bassist Cashvin Christopher and percussionist Hydhir Ramli, provide quicksilver accompaniment.

It's not sledgehammer after sledgehammer: Headlights is prefaced with soft synths and guest rocker Rebecca Hammond playing the yin to Vojodi's yang.

1203 BLVD begins with some gentle electric riffs, with Aussie singer Zachary Britt trading vocal duties with Vojodi - a punk-rock-metal collaboration made in heaven or hell.

Ambient

TEACH A LIFE, FOR LIFE

Eileen Chai

Eileen Chai

3***

In her autobiography Teach A Life, For Life, gymnast-turned-violinist Eileen Chai has an epiphany: "I may not have reached the top of the mountain, but I did manage to climb pretty high for me to enjoy the spectacular view."

You feel that as you listen to the EP of the same name. By itself, it comes across as New Agey platitudes wrapped in candyfloss, but as a soundtrack for the book, that levity underlies her grit.

"Feel excitement, feel the flow," her wispy soprano flies above on Enjoy The Ride. Reborn rides on pitter-pattering electronic keys. Spread Your Wings may be her best, a confluence of intent and talent where her Enya-ish purr, pizzicato strings and relooped beats achieve illumination through hard work or serendipity.

Kelvin Tan's The 50 will be available on his birthday on Aug 22 at Room For Dessert, 62, Somme Road, tel: 6337-7637. The albums are available for digital download.

The Observatory launches Oscilla at The Substation tomorrow and on Saturday at 8pm. Tickets - $25 at the door and $20 advance - are available from oscilla.peatix.com.

Avalanche launches Glass Silver Lining on Saturday at Aliwal Arts Centre, 28 Aliwal Street. Tickets - $22 at the door and $17 advance - are available from apesnap.com/ event/glasssilverlining.

For more information on Eileen Chai's EP and book, go to www.eileenchai.com/ music-ep.html.

This article was first published on August 14, 2014.
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