Alison Cloustan and Boyd: Backburn

Abstract

Two artists working on the volunteer crews during the New South Wales bushfires of January 2002 were inspired to interview their fellow Wollondilly Brigade members. Boyd is a saxophonist and composer who uses environmental sound to inspire his instrumental compositions, and Alison is a visual artist who has incorporated sound in her installation work. Here they collaborate to weave the diverse voices of their brigade together in a metaphorical soundscape of the backburning process. The rumble of the fire-pump is recorded live, the extinguishing hiss of steam is a log doused in a billy of water. An inferno of flames is suggested in the roar of wind and spit through a saxophone, and the baritone sax harmonics mimic the metallic shriek of bulldozer tracks on rock. Through this assemblage of aural materials people's memories are woven to make a fabric as dense and bright as standard-issue overalls, with the same reflective flashes stitched in.