What happens when you try and convey to a band the song they should be playing using just plain English? Anyone who has dabbled as a music writer knows this particular kind of pain. Articulating sounds through words is a peculiar thing. That is why music relies on its own technical language.
If writing about music is like – as the well-worn quote goes – dancing about architecture, then playing a song played by the previous band onstage based solely on the impression of a random audience member who heard what the current musician did not, is akin to Google translating the lyrics of a song into a foreign language before translating them back to English.
This 'Chinese Whispers' idea is at the heart of an interesting event taking place in Dublin, Whelan's, on Sunday night, as part of the Musictown Festival called, appropriately enough, Sonic Whispers.
On the night, three bands will take to the stage – Bitch Falcon are a grunge-rock trio, five-piece Bunoscionn make trad and folk music, while Wounded Healer is the solo ambient pop project of Sorca McGrath.
One after another, each act will interpret the previous artist song with only the audience’s help. The night will be hosted by Rob Broderick aka Abandoman, a stand up comedian and hip hop MC.
Picking the right artists
The night was conceived by Natasha Duffy, who also produces the Spirit Of Folk festival. Duffy and co-producer Maurane Ramon knew they had to pick the right artists to participate in Sonic Whispers, starting with competent musicians who have to be comfortable showing their process and who have a degree of improvisation.
“The artists are essentially allowing the audience into their rehearsal room and allowing the music to be seen in its rawest form,” says Duffy. “They are also interpreting the audiences cues, and there is an element of thinking and playing ‘on the spot’.”
The idea came to Duffy while she was working on TheatreClub’s festival The Theatre Machine Turns you On at the Project Arts Centre last year.
“The team behind the festival wanted me to establish a music programme at the event in keeping with their ethos of supporting and looking at ‘work in progress’.
“I played in a band with some friends years ago and loved the rehearsing and jamming process along with the elation that can come when a good song, melody or rhythm comes together. I know every band or artist has their own process and I wanted for an audience to get an idea of how that worked.”
For Duffy, the uncertainty of the night is central to its appeal.
“We have no idea what will happen,” says Duffy. “It depends on the bands involved, the person hosting, and the audience that turns up to participate. But there is definitely an energy to something being created in this way. The final song is an amalgamation of all three bands ideas as well as audiences suggestions.”
With the emphasis on improvisation, Sonic Whispers presents a new challenge for the artists.
“As it’s improv, we are completely at the mercy of the audience on this one, and it is both terrifying and exciting at the same time,” says Bitch Falcon drummer Nigel Kenny. “We’ll just be ourselves and be honest.”
How it works
The night will feature the three bands playing short sets of their own original material before Wounded Healer will improvise a track while the other musicians don noise-cancelling headphones so they cannot hear what is happening on stage. Bitch Falcon will then take the stage and rely on the audience's interpretation to play that track. Then Bunoscionn will do the same based on Bitch Falcon's interpretation, before all three bands will jam together as one.
“We will be encouraging the audience to pay close attention to the lyrics, the melody and the rhythm,” Duffy says. “Is there a bass line? Are there other sounds that can be translated into guitar or vocals?”
Recipe for disaster?
This all sounds like a recipe for an absolute aural disaster, but Duffy maintains there is order in the chaos – as was proven by last year's inaugural event featuring trad band Lynched, electronic duo Carriages and garage-punk band Fierce Mild.
“You might hear someone in the audience hum out the melody for the lead singer, for the singer to play it back and for someone else to add a word or a harmony,” says Duffy.
“When people were trying to explain the drumbeats to Cathy Ahearne (the drummer in Fierce Mild), some were tapping out on their legs, others were doing it with sound and another person explained in meter and talked about pulse and subdivison.”
The night is of benefit to the audience as well as the performers as they gain insight into creative process in real-time.
“I think this is especially appealing for people that love music, but may never have had the opportunity to play. For people who are musical, it’s a chance to see how other artists work. The song that is constructed by the end is a complete co-creation between bands and audience and you can feel that in the room.”
Sonic Whispers relies on interpretation, garbled intent, communication and connection until the artists arrives at something they would have not come up with alone.
“Fierce Mild did an awesome job of punking the hell out of Carriages electronic folk number. Lynched translated Fierce Mild’s melodies with the use of their concertina, fiddle and uilleann pipes. They don’t have drums, so Daragh took on the rhythm with his guitar.
“My favourite part was the translation of the the lyrics from the first to the last song. We definitely didn’t start the night with ‘I don’t want to live in the heart of a clown. Give it to me!’”
- Sonic Whispers takes place Upstairs in Whelan's, Dublin, as part of Musictown Festival running until April 17th. Tickets are €15 and are available from tickets.ie
