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Live Review: Braille Face & Happy Axe strike a complex balance on 'Open Sky'

9 August 2019 | 3:27 pm | Caitlin Medcalf

Melbourne's Braille Face & Southern Highlands' Happy Axe have come together for the first time for 'Open Sky', a beautifully composed experimental track.

There's literally no better feeling (well there probably is, but you know what I mean) than seeing two incredibly talented artists coming together to create something. Today, we've been absolutely treated by Melbourne producer BRAILLE FACE and Southern Highlands' multi-instrumentalist HAPPY AXE.

Both artists are currently releasing music with Tim Shiel's Spirit Level label, so their collaboration is an incredibly apt one.

'Open Sky' is the name of the track, and it sees both artists meeting somewhere in the middle for an experimental collage of each artists' pastiches. The track is the first time Braille Face and Happy Axe have collaborated, and damn is it intoxicating.

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The track is an ode to love, with both artists exploring the freedom felt when falling completely in love. It's balladic in its lyricism, but its structure is dominated by a desire to look outside of convention and they've beautifully struck that. Both of their voices strike through as emotionally resonant, floating freely over the soundscape, while the instrumental juxtaposes that airy sound with layers of violin, musical saw. and dense percussion.

Happy Axe said "To me this song is about a love of nature, and how being outside can ground you, and make you feel small in a good, comforting way. Similarly, being with people you love can ground you and take you outside of your own questionings."

Braille Face said "We just had a really honest and organic conversation about these existential messes that we were both wading through at the time. How we both planned to survive them and how the people closest to us were guiding us through them. Within a couple of hours this song had just appeared and seemed to comfort us perfectly."

Photo by Jeff Andersen Jr

Words by CAITLIN MEDCALF

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