Decibel new music ensemble returns to The Rechabite on Thursday 6 November with Inland Lake (le lac intérieur) – a 45-minute electroacoustic composition created by French musique concrète artist Lionel Marchetti in collaboration with Decibel.
Composed in 2018, Inland Lake is written for ensemble and partition concrète – a fixed media part that acts simultaneously as score, soundtrack and ensemble member.
This unique compositional approach sees acoustic instruments weave in and out of a rich multi-speaker sound field, threaded with harmonicas, ocarinas, singing bowls, strings, winds and percussion in a performance that reimagines ambient music as an electro-acoustic form.
Following acclaimed performances in London, Sydney and Melbourne after the Perth world premiere in 2019 – this performance marks the premiere of integration of immersive 3D projection installation design by media artist Sohan Ariel Hayes. This is based upon a film created by media artist Karl Ockelford.
The performance will begin with Marchetti’s short electroacoustic piece La Patience – part of the 2 Minutes From Home series, which also features a film by Karl Ockelford.
Cat Hope, Decibel’s Artistic Director, describe the work as uniquely immersive.
“This is a work that shows what long-term collaboration can achieve. We’ve been working with Lionel Marchetti for over a decade, and the concept of partition concrète has grown with us. It’s a uniquely immersive way to perform and listen to music.
“Lionel’s recordings are incredibly rich and evocative – almost like their own instrument. Our role as performers is to be sensitive to his sounds and find where our performance can sit within, contrast against, or weave through them. This is music led by electronic, not acoustic, sound.
“It’s not ambient music in the passive sense,” Hope said. “It rewards close listening that can challenge your perception of recorded and live sound in space.”
Inland Lake was previously performed as part of Extended Play, Sydney (2019), Café Oto in London (2022) and Monash University in Melbourne (2024). Decibel has collaborated with Marchetti since 2015, creating several major works, publications and two albums on Australian label Room 40: The Last Days of Reality (2018) and Inland Lake (2022). These will be available for sale on the night.
Decibel will perform one concert only at The Rechabite Hall, Perth on Thursday 6 November 2025. Tickets are on sale now.
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