The weather is in a state of flux, hot and windy one day, cold and wet the next.
It certainly is Autumn, and as we transition from the long searing dry of summer into the deep hum of winter, a collectivised gravitation towards the indoors beckons.
On Friday 9 May at GROW Anglesea, the local community experienced the warmth of congregating inside for a night of undulating story. Rupert Bullard – an emergent folk musician from lutruwita/Tasmania had combined his story-telling songs with two familiars in the local scene – Daniel Aaron and Seal Prince, both of which boast their own journeying music presented in variations of folk form.
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Doors opened at 5:30pm as a steady tide of guests rolled through the door to the aromas of a house-cooked curry, whilst the chill of the night gripped at the entrance. Scrabbling to find the most appropriate lighting to accommodate photography needs and to create a softening container for the night ahead, Seal Prince started his set a near half an hour after the forecasted commencement time.
Although, it seemed the anticipation was worth the wait as the North Geelong based singer-songwriter serenaded the crowd with his characteristic satirical lyrics touching of the horrors of landlords. Despite the sharp wit dispersed throughout the performance, it seemed to be all underpinned by a sincerity and authenticity expressed through his truth in experience.
Captivating as it was, an interlude of circulating curries underscored by a soothing chatter broke out, separating Seal Prince’s performance from the stirring and hypnotic sounds of Daniel Aaron. At one point the Gherang-based musician was playing a sit-down slide guitar, to only switch out to a 12-string amplified acoustic mesmerising the crowd with a rendition of Oceans by John Butler Trio. Aaron invited the audience to express their full spectrum of being, but it was his performance of an original collaboration with Phillip B. Roos, entitled songs for Miinimbi that had the room singing along in harmony through a prolonged refrain. Albeit warm inside the venue, an evocative shiver permeated the crowd.
The connection between the audience and performer had been set, that of one with little separation, but it was when Rupert Bullard stood in front of the microphone that the night came to be. His vocal abilities paired with the rambling picking of his guitar resembled that of a young Bob Dylan, and yet the ode to his deep connection with nature and kin spoke to myth and story of old. At one moment in the show, in a homage to his likeness of playing Bullard plucked a version of Dylan’s stories Like a Woman – a rendition that added a melodic layer never heard before in a performance of the famed song.
Yet it was original tracks like Honey and Human Form that pronounced Bullard’s poetic lyricism, both songs lathered in elemental experiences of love. And yet the special moments at this unique show weren’t yet exhausted, as Daniel Aaron, Seal Prince and trumpet-player Patrick Bongiorno joined Bullard on-stage to perform the title track of his recently released EP Mountains, Rivers in a stripped back, heart melting form. The night closed with the upbeat Riverstone Blues, a tune that had the audience tapping, lurching and bouncing in an expressed unison – an epitome of how story, song and gathering in the name of it can build resilience in community.
A beautiful, salubrious evening threaded together by these three modern-day folk musicians, stories of oceans, rivers, mountains and wildlife aplenty.
With tumultuous times ahead in contemporary society, it seems we’ve a strength in artists and story-tellers to make sense of it all, and guide us through it.
