Continuing Season XIX, Melbourne-based musician Michael Beach (
@michaelbeach___ ) presented material from his fifth LP, ‘Big Black Plume’ — a record shaped by long-standing creative relationships and an ongoing commitment to musical community. The album centres on connection: how it is built, sustained, strained, and renewed across time, scenes, and collaborations.
Drawing on influences ranging from Bill Fay and Peter Laughner to the minimalism of Tony Conrad and Terry Riley, ‘Big Black Plume’ moves between spare, textural ballads and spiralling psychedelic passages propelled by a steady, cosmic pulse. Beach’s songwriting balances expansive perspective with grounded emotional clarity, offering songs that feel deliberate and precise in their directness.
For this performance, Beach was joined by Lloyd Swanton (The Necks), Joe Talia
@joetalia , and Mick Turner
@mick.turner (Dirty Three / Mess Esque), bringing together musicians from a network cultivated over decades of touring, producing, and deep involvement in Australia’s music community. Live, the material translated into a dynamic interplay of defined guitars, layered rhythms, and controlled volatility — individual voices converging into a cohesive whole.
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@visitandre 
