“It feels like taking the stairs and not the lift,” says Michael Ross, one half of Adelaide’s Electric Fields soultronica duo. “We became known more by word of mouth than by radio.”
Indeed, the band and the unapologetically uplifting vibes they convey failed to catch the attention of Triple J’s Guardians.
Electric Fields performs in Adelaide.Credit:Jiayuan Liang & Xplorer Studio
Do not worry. Electric Fields have succeeded without the traditional help of the national youth broadcaster: and now they have been tapped by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for a massive gig at Hamer Hall for NAIDOC week.
“Our jaws dropped when we found out,” Ross says. But it’s not as strange a combo as it sounds: Ross wrote his first classical piano sonata at age 19.
The self-proclaimed “female brothers” fuse ancient Anangu culture (from Australia’s Western Desert) with reassuring, futuristic rhythms. For the MSO show, they collaborate with composer Alex Turley, exchanging ideas on the Internet. “Alex developed the orchestration and sent it to me in separate parts and I add some ideas to it,” Ross explains.
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“I’m interested in the incomparable organic textures that the orchestra can create. We will work with these natural elements to develop the hue of harmony… We will also add some trippy twists to the arrangement.
Electric Fields’ most recognizable track Do not worry is a defiant and victorious banger, generally. That could change.
“I actually think Do not worry could become more of a blues ballad with the MSO,” Ross muses. “We’ve played it a number of times just on the two-part piano and it sounds great that way. In our dance tracks, the way the rhythm hits the body is definitely a focal point.
