Private Eyes - Australian Music in Isolation 12" vinyl LP

Featuring Matthew Hayes & Charlie Perry

Music is an innately social activity, even music created in the interest of self-reflection and meditation. Early in 2020, Australia's response to the rapidly evolving Covid-19 pandemic had the music community close its doors not only to the outside world, but to each other. By order of a government directive, all social gatherings – including live music performance, group rehearsal and collaborative recording – were to cease around the country.

It was unclear at the start of the pandemic what role peer-to-peer interaction played in the lives of Australian composers. Many already worked from home, well versed in the art of creating spaces of solitude in cities, of building environments conducive to self-reflection, innovation and creativity.

But how much do we really depend upon our community? In a world where self-isolation is no longer a personal choice, will creativity flounder, or flourish?

The recordings in this series are a document of these months and these reflections. A meditation on the way we exist and create, both together and in solitude. As with any creative work, it is up to the listener to draw what they will from these works, and to carry this forward into the world they now inhabit.

1. Introduction (feat. Joshua Kelly)
2. Breath
3. You Care I Know (feat. Aarti Jadu)
4. For Maem
5. I Can Hear You (feat. Allysha Joy)
6. Merri Breaking
7. Dissolve