|
 Local sister act, Maiden Speech, will showcase their 80s-inspired poetry-pop as part of the Brisbane Cabaret Festival in October, writes Melissa Giles.
The women behind Maiden Speech, Almaryse Murphy and Pascalle Burton, thrive on genre-fusion.
Almaryse describes the pair’s musical, theatrical, cabaret, spoken-word work as an exciting “mash up of the arts” that can be performed at a wide a range of events.
Each show is different, and on stage anything goes—ribbon twirling, poetry on flash cards, preparing an ambrosia salad, or painting Pascalle. Expect the unexpected.
Their devotion to collaborative music and performance (emphatically proven by a “stint” at the Johnny Young Talent School) developed while 33-year-old Almaryse and 32-year-old Pascalle were growing up in the 80s.
Pascalle has fond memories of those days: making up dances in the lounge room, watching Countdown and listening to cassette tapes.
Their mother was a singer and the siblings regularly sang with her around the house in three-part a cappella.
Almaryse also learnt a great deal by imitating 80s pop legends.
“An early purchase of mine was the ‘We Are The World’ single on vinyl,” she recalls, “and I used to do everyone’s voices with gusto!”
Pascalle says her sister is an “exceptional singer and songwriter” whose natural talent was evident as a child in her four-octave vocal range.
“She’s been professionally singing for well over a decade and always gives me goosebumps when she sings.”
In 2005, after living for a while in the UK, Pascalle returned to Australia and Maiden Speech was born. The name is a reference to the use of spoken word in their work, but Pascalle explains the added significance: “There’s something very promising about a political maiden speech—it is a sign of a new era.”
In addition to being a writer and performer, Pascalle works as a high school teacher and describes herself as being more of a nerd than her sister is.
She recently finished a masters degree focussing on creative writing, sonic art and cultural theory, and released a collection of poetry, A Vast Laugh, through Small Change Press earlier this year.
Pascalle is a former ‘poetry slam’ competition winner and brings to Maiden Speech the spoken word element and a love of “messing with the boundaries of poetry and music” inspired by artists such as Talking Heads, Grace Jones and Laurie Anderson.
The Maidens released a self-titled debut album last year, which comes with a ‘shrinky’ and pocket poster, and is also available as a limited edition cassette. (If you don’t know what a cassette is, head to iTunes, Amazon or the Maiden Speech MySpace site.)
But, of course, hearing the music is only part of the experience—their expressive choreography is something to behold.
“[It] is truly reminiscent of making up dances in the lounge room,” Pascalle says. “Let me tell you, there are frequent toilet stops during rehearsals!”
See Maiden Speech (with Ghostboy and the Golden Virtues) at the Judith Wright Centre on October 9 at 8pm. For more information: www.brisbanecabaretfestival.com
www.myspace.com/maidenspeech
 |
Maidens mash-up poetry and pop
Subscribe to this comment's feed