Selfless Orchestra ‘Absonant’

Single released on Stock Records, Nov 6th 2024

The first taste of the new album by Selfless ‘Terra Nullius’ to be released in 2025 - launched as a fundraising event for Save Our Songlines and Disrupt Burrup Hub - bringing attention to the plight of the Murujuga peninsula where sacred rock art is being destroyed by reckless gas companies in North West Western Australia.

A short piece I wrote about the song:

Dissonance reverberates through Murujuga’s ancient stones.

Echoes of massacre merge with the relentless hum of industry.

Sacred earth trembles beneath the weight of machines, desecrating rock art that holds the stories of time immemorial. Sacred origin of the continental songline of the seven sisters.

We defile it with toxic smoke. We are well beyond the tipping point for this shit. Line your pockets as the world burns, piss acid rain to wash away ancient harmonious history (oh and make sure you sell the gas all overseas and don’t pay tax for it).

Murujuga = microcosm for global human dilemma.

Colonialism’s legacy of dispossession + insatiable drive for profit.
The scars of history deepen as corporations drain the lifeblood of the earth, indifferent to the consequences.

On this peninsula, our battle for survival is disgustingly present.
How long before the dissonance consumes us all?

We stand on the precipice. Will the songlines be silenced forever? Replaced with the terrifying tides of repercussions, ripping through the earth from this peninsula through every colony, city and outpost of indifference.

Nowhere to run. No buying our way out of this.

Absonant. Enough is enough.
We call in rage and love that harmony can be rekindled.

‘Absonant’ on Bandcamp

Press Release

Western Australian post-rock band Selfless Orchestra are a group that stands for social and cultural issues. With the release of their second album Terra Nullius, on the horizon, the group unveils their latest single, Absonant, a response to how fossil fuel mining companies are destroying Murujuga, a significant site of ancient Aboriginal rock art and starting place of the seven sisters song line on the Burrup Peninsula.  

Influenced by bands such as Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Sigur Ros, Mogwai, and Mono, and inspired by the efforts of those fighting for justice and freedom for the environment and those marginalised or oppressed, Steven Alyian (he/him), the band’s guitarist and leader shares that “This song [Absonant] like all others on our upcoming album responds to the impact of the designation 'Terra Nullius' has had on the relationship to our land and the traditional owners of these places.” 

Opening with swirls of electric guitar and strings, Absonant delectably evolves throughout its near-7-minute duration, with grounding bass, driving drums, the subtle hammer of keys, and accents of ethereal vocals providing rich textures to this bold symphony. Capturing feelings of sorrow and rage, underpinned with glimmers of love and hope that harmony can be rekindled, the message that “enough is enough” when it comes to the desecration of historical sacred sites and the loss of knowledge that is held within them is weaved throughout the song's tapestry, alongside a deep yearning for awareness, action, and change. 

Originally written on guitar by Steven on country whilst doing activist projects in the central desert, “the song was taken to the orchestra and expanded into this version that was tracked as a live take in Loop studios in Perth. Only the vocals are overdubbed, but the entire instrumental recording is a single take of all musicians in the room together. This is how we always record, as an organic being dynamically reacting in real-time, capturing the essence and the reality of how we perform together, no headphones, amps blasted at each other, a cacophony of sound that is messy, wild, but honest.”

Praised for their compelling, immersive, and dynamic live performances, Selfless Orchestra will take to the stage to launch Absonant with a show at Fremantle Arts Centre - on Saturday, 16 November. 
Teaming up with the Disrupt Burrup Hub organisation, all proceeds from the event will be donated to a direct action campaign fighting to protect climate and culture from fossil fuel mining companies and polluters who operate at Murujuga on the Burrup Peninsula.

CREDITS

Produced by Steven Alyian
Performed by Selfless Orchestra
On this recording Selfless Orchestra is: Steven Alyian, Raymond Grenfell, Madeleine Antoine, Sam Maher, Nikki Dagostino, Camille Lalanne, Cara Grace Teusner-Gartland. Zoe Brennan
Engineered by Arran O’Mara
Mixed and Mastered by Kieran Kendressy
Recorded live at Loop Studios, Perth, Australia
Artwork by Hugh Faulkner
Released by Stock Records

Artwork / Photos

Photos from FAC Launch event by Zoe Theiadore