Kardajala KirridarraKardajala Kirridarra
Indie

- Did you ever wonder to yourself: where's Aboriginal music's version of ambient chill? I mean, surely after Yothu Yindi stomped to fame by blending Yolngu Mattha lyrics with techno-tempo production, and artists like Tjupurru pioneering electro-infused Digeri-bone looping styles or D-Kazman from Dubmarine's incredibly versatile vox making booming bass-music, well.. you might ask, "Where's the chill?!" and also: "Where are the ladies?!"

Kardajala Kirridarra is the answer. Featuring an inter-generational collaboration of powerhouse Australian vocalists, composers and producers singing in Mudburra and English, KK are the softly spoken super-group here to answer your secular prayers.

Eleanor Dixon is a composer and producer working across music and theatre (her original compositions for Moira Finucane's current cabaret-polemic The Rapture are easily one of the best things about that show) and it shows here in her fine-tuned sense of dynamics: there's something distinctly theatrical about the way these songs unfold, how they approach then withdraw, always drawing the listener closer. Eleanor is another illustrious alumna of the MONAFOMA festival, where she took to the stage with Rayella, the band she formed with her father Raymond Dixon, himself a storied muso with a string of albums to his name via the Kulumindini Band in the '80s and '90s.

Eleanor's aunty Janey ' Namija' Dixon acts as chief translator and delivers a lot of the in-language spoken word material and song, and it's this deeper connection with history and culture (being almost entirely created by proud Mudburra women form the Marlinja community) that makes this record sing.

Beatrice is a producer with deep connections to the indie electronic scene in Oz, and the triphop, dubstep and rap flavours here are driven by her production chops with percussive elements deriving mostly from sounds sampled out on Marlinja country in NT (and ably helped out in the mixdown and mastering phases by Monkey Marc of Combat Wombat fame). She's also clearly lending her voice to some of the the albums ethereal harmony work too, offering moments that would make Warpaint weep. The wide age range of the singers that make up Kardajala is a definite strength. There's an epic quality to the opening cut, Abala Barlawa, pounding timpani-like drums and spaced out chanting vocals; it's way more the liquid honey of Gurrumul than the ragged cigars-and-whiskey timbre of some of the country music icons of the territory. There's a real sense of space here. if you want to imagine yourself under a desert sky wrapped in blanket of stars, this is the sound for you.

This feels like the start of a new generation of Australian music-makers inventing a mode of modern indigenous music done right, in a way that sounds like dubbing out a culture, not just sampling it and adding some beats. Thoughtful and deep, Kardajala Kirridarra are on to something with their debut record. They should get ready for some new (and loud) cheerleaders when Bigsound comes around.

- Kieran Ruffles.

Kardajala KirridarraKardajala Kirridarra

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