tom allum

Tom is a sound designer who hears the world in ways most of us can’t conceive. The first time we hung out, we wandered the forest recording sticks, stones, and trees, shaping them into a jungle rhythm for our newborn daughters. Painted in oil and beeswax, this work was built through both addition and removal, reflecting the layers we accumulate and shed, and the traces that remain. I admire Tom’s lifelong devotion to his craft - indeed it has inspired my own. His rare smile carries both joy and something unknowable, and capturing that became the heart of this portrait “The Man Who Started His Life As A Duck” Oil and beeswax on Cotton Rag 56cm x 76cm

As part of this year’s Brave New Works opening event, LISTENING FIELDS returns with an experimental music series exploring deep listening and sonic exploration in the Great Southern. FEATURED ARTIST: Composer Jean-Michel Maujean @birdsongandmusic is joined by local recordists Avril Steyl @steylavril and Caroline Blumer in a performance that celebrates the interplay between birdsong and music. Jean-Michel will accompany musicians and birds on the Roli Seaboard. The evening also features performances by Matthew Barker, onetwotwofour, George The Sound Creator, Birdsong and Music with Avril Steyl and Caroline Blumer, Synth Arcana, Curious Leigh and Allum. - @birdsongandmusic - @barking__wolf - @georgethesoundcreator - @mswbarker - @steylavril - @syntharcana - @curious_leigh - @one2.2four Each gathering offers a relaxed space to sit, listen and experience adventurous sound in an intimate setting. 27 March 2026 Denmark Civic Centre 7.30pm Bar open until late Tickets via @denmarkarts #listeningfields #bravenewworks

Listening Fields: Brave New Works Denmark Civic Centre Friday 27 March, 7:30pm FEATURED ARTIST: onetwotwofour There’s a truly gorgeous sound in this work, layered overdubs of trumpet and synth moving between intimacy and abstraction. With a practice built upon the (dis)connection between the real and unreal, onetwotwofour explores gender, expression, and performance through her sound-making. She revels in explosive, glitchy noise and writhes in the quiet, sombre hum of her laptop fan. For Brave New Works, she presents “lizzie mcguire”: “I do not see myself, like many young women did. I saw instead someone who I wasn’t, and who I painfully wanted to be.” The work reflects on lost girlhood as a symptom of transgender-ness. It is an outward expression of an inner reckoning, unfolding for as long as you care to listen. Izzy French / onetwotwofour (she/they) is a Boorloo-based transgender sound artist, comic maker, and researcher. She revels and writhes within abstract digitality and acts of play. Image: @convectionpattern Listening Fields, experimental sound in a regional setting Denmark Civic Centre, 27 March #ListeningFields #BraveNewWorks #SoundArt #ExperimentalMusic #DenmarkWA

COMING UP- Listening Fields for Brave New Works @denmarkarts Denmark Civic Centre 7:35pm Friday 27 March. Check out the line up!…. - @birdsongandmusic - @barking__wolf - @georgethesoundcreator - @mswbarker - @steylavril - @syntharcana - @curious_leigh - @one2.2four Enjoy this sample of George the Sound Creator, weaving beautiful handpan musings inspired by nature and the ocean. See you there! #bravenewworks #listeningfields #hangpan

Listening Fields is part of this year’s Brave New Works opening event! Listening Fields is an experimental music series exploring the art of deep listening and sonic exploration in the Great Southern. Bringing local and visiting artists to curious audiences across genre like ambient music, field recordings, modular synthesis, birdsong, and improvised sound, we celebrate our rich natural soundscape and expand outward toward surrounding music communities in a back-and-forth creative community-building process. Featuring Matthew Barker, onetwotwofour, George The Sound Creator, Birdsong and Music (Feat. Avril Steyl & Caroline Blumer), Synth Arcana, Curious Leigh and Allum. Each gathering offers a relaxed space to sit, listen, and experience adventurous sound in an intimate setting. - 27th March, 2026 Denmark Civic Centre 5:00pm Two or More - Myla Rose Bracknell Excerpts of Echoes of Fern Gully by Tamsyn Heynes The Potato Eaters by Inge van Winkel 7:45pm - 9:30pm Listening Fields Bar open til late. Tickets via link in bio Thanks @daveyneilart for the incredible artwork for this poster.

@perthisok did a little write-up about my sound design work for Shaun Tan’s Tales from Outer Suburbia 🫶🏼 - @flyingbarkproductions @envelope.audio @troy_divisionn #talesfromoutersuburbia #sounddesign

Birdsong & Music feat. Rhian Bethen Rehearsal excerpt for Listening Fields 🌿 An immersive blend of field recordings, voice and piano, responding to birdsong from Fitzgerald River National Park. LINEUP John Briggs – Improvised banjo & found objects Scientia – Field recordings, modular synth & gong Birdsong & Music feat. Rhian Bethen – Voice & piano transformations Bilg – Modular electronics Jim Able – The Tears of Chavez (sound + visuals) 📍 Denmark Arts 🗓 Sunday 18 January 🎟 tickets online and at the door #ListeningFields #SoundArt #Birdsong #ExperimentalMusic #DenmarkWA #FieldRecording #SpatialSound #ImmersiveAudio

The wait is over - we're back for round three! Next Sunday, the 18th of January, from 3:30 pm, join us in Denmark for an afternoon of experimental music. LISTENING FIELDS presented by Noizemaschin Expect the unexpected, with six artists taking the stage for short sets of pre-composed, improv, electronic and/or acoustic music (who knows!) The bar will be open, serving up cacao, food and plenty of creative vibes. Grab your tickets @denmarkarts or on the door. Photo credits @birdsongandmusic

There’s something special about turning the familiar into something a little strange and magical. So proud to share a project I’ve been quietly shaping. Tales from Outer Suburbia is now streaming on ABC iview. As the sound designer, I had the privilege of creating the sonic world around the story — ambiences, foley and SFX — all bespoke, and inspired by (and built from) recordings from my life in suburban Perth. Thanks @envelope.audio for bringing me into this journey. Ned and Josh’s interrogation of the emotional subtext was profoundly deep, thoughtful, and resulted in something musically extraordinary. - @flyingbarkproductions @shauncytan

A homegrown, locally sourced celebration of experimental sound. On January 18th, Listening Fields unfolds in Denmark at a moment of transition. As Bunuru settles in, the hot, dry Noongar season of ripening, travel, and long days, the town swells with visitors, movement, and intersecting paths. Listening Fields offers a pause within that motion: a space to slow down, tune in, and listen deeply. Presented by NoizeMaschin!!, Listening Fields is an intimate afternoon dedicated to experimental sound, field recording, improvisation, and sonic storytelling. The event brings together artists working across ambient music, acoustic exploration, electronics, and unconventional performance practices, with each set unfolding as a distinct listening environment. The format is simple and open: a series of short sets, allowing ideas to surface, breathe, and dissolve. Some works arrive finely shaped, others remain deliberately unfinished sketches, experiments, or quiet acts of attention. Together, they form a shared listening field, shaped by place, season, and the people gathered in the room. Date: Sunday, January 18th, 2026 Time: 3:30pm - 7:30pm Where: Denmark Artshouse - 2A Strickland St, Denmark Entry: $15 (members) / $20 (non-members) Artwork credit @katlambartist

As a part of Albany 2026, @envelope.audio and I are producing ALBANY IS - a soundscape of voices, songs and sounds of Albany and surrounds. Who is this for? You. This is a community-centred collaborative project. We see this as a meaningful opportunity to explore ‘what Albany is’ from a diverse range of perspectives. How can I be involved? 1. Record a story, however big or small albanyis.com (link in bio) 2. Share this post :)

Photos from NoizeMaschin!! 2 — a wonderful gathering of experimental sound and community. Huge thanks to everyone who came, played, and listened. We’re already looking forward to the next one in January. Want to get involved or stay in the loop? Join our mailing list or reach out to @tommallum or me for updates. #NoizeMaschin #ExperimentalSound #DenmarkArts #SoundArt #CommunityMusic #LiveElectronics