This recording comes from the 2020 SoundOut Festival in Canberra, inbetween the two profound events: South Eastern of Australia fires and the beginning of a pandemic lockdowns. So for that reason alone it is a remarkable, however this live recording gives a glimpse into the incredible sonic landscapes that can be explored and actualised when three exceptional artist-musicians come together after honing their individual skills over many years. They play in the field of being, becoming, intersubjectivity, flow and flux, deep listening and a profound sense of intricate infinite creativity.
180º formed in August 2018 -
Nick Ashwood acoustic guitar.
Jim Denley flutes and voice.
Amanda Stewart voice and text.
Living in Gadigal lands (Sydney), Amanda and Jim met in the late 1980s, founding Machine for Making Sense in 1989, as well as performing numerous duos over the years. They’ve always been interested in what their music instinct can learn from language and vice versa. Nick is originally from the southern tip of Lutruwita (Tasmania). He now lives in Narm (Melbourne). Nick and Jim started working closely in 2017, improvising together in outdoor settings around Hobart and Sydney.
When all three played together for the first time, they found that the complex adaptive system that resulted was deeply interesting, and needed a name. If one counts the characters and spaces in each of their names and forms a triangle with those numbers, with no sides of equal length and no angles the same (a scalene triangle), the interior angles add up to 180º.
180º have released one studio CD Submental, on Splitrec, of which Ben Harper wrote “I keep listening closer and I’m starting to believe they can actually make these sounds unaided: breath, flute and rubbed strings, struck instruments and oral clicks merge in mysterious ways that build up continually changing, complex aural textures. Stewart’s typically fragmented texts here disappear almost completely into pure sound; all three get deep into the grain of their respective axes, evoking profound expression without ever imposing it.”
Submental by 180º can be found here:
splitrec.bandcamp.com/album/submental
released September 19, 2021
Recorded at the SoundOut Festival in Canberra, 1-2-2020 by Kimmo Vennonen
Mixed by Jim Denley
image: Amanda Stewart
Production: @SoundOut by Richard Johnson
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri People, on which the SoundOut festival is held. We celebrate and commend the rich depth of knowledge from the oldest continuing cultures in the world.