Percussionist Nat Grant and bassist Miranda Hill began collaborating in 2012, and have produced a wide range of compositions, recordings, and live performance events together. They play live under the name Octave Pussy - an electroacoustic duo of drums, bass, and electronics.
They've performed at Midsumma Festival, La Mama Musica, and the Make it Up Club in Melbourne. Both composers in their own right, the duo is now moving into public art and installation, with their Test Sites project Watermark being the first of these.
Watermark
Watermark is a sonic installation work based on the Yarra that brings a new lens to the river. Using submerged microphones and real time electro-acoustic double bass and percussion improvisation, captured and played back through speakers along Birrarung Marr, we want to develop an immersive, stereo sound art work that may be experienced by passers-by.
Australia is a drought-ridden land, so in this work we are exploring what our relationship with water would be if we had an abundance while inviting the listening audience to examine more closely this resource that some may take for granted. Watermark is a meditation on the music of the river: amplifying its natural rhythms, and bringing its voice to the fore.