In one of West Australian Music's (WAM) most remote projects to date, artists from the Goldfields-Esperance region have been recorded in a double album that captures, among other sounds, a uniquely desert style of reggae.
Entitled, Demos from the Ngaanyatjarra Lands and Esperance, it is the 15th compilation from WAM's regional recording project.
Musicians from Esperance and Warburton were given the opportunity to record for free with some of WA's top producers and sound engineers, creating an album that WAM regional officer Nigel Bird said was truly reflective of each region.
"Ngaanyatjarra Lands is part of the central desert areas of Australia, and that part of the world, over probably the last 20, 30 years, has been part of a phenomenon where a style of music has overtaken," he said.
"Most of the songs are sung in Ngaanyatjarra, maybe a bit of Pitjantjatjara and they're often of country, of places, of fruits, some of the tracks are about all different bush food."
Mr Bird said the Esperance album, which featured nine artists, highlighted the mix of genres present in the small community's growing music scene.
"On that album we've got hip hop, we've got rock, we've got indie rock, we've got great folky indie pop stuff, there's a little bit of hard rock, there's blues," he said.
A thriving music scene
Esperance rapper Morgan Kelly, who goes by the stage name Dr Tasty, recorded her track, Hopscotch, for the album.
Ms Kelly hoped the new track would help kickstart her music career after everything came to a halt at the start of the pandemic.
"I signed with a record label in Perth for a year contract at the end of 2019," she said.
"I'm still in contact with them and I'm hoping to get it started up again."
Local support
The Arid Ones lead vocalist and bassist Cooper Jarzabek said it was the first time the band, which contributed the song Death Row to the album, had recorded since it formed two years ago.
The 18-year-old said the Esperance music scene — driven largely by musician Kyron Smithson and his event management business, Kyza Presents — helped the band prepare to record.
"Before I was born there wasn't much of a music scene, but this man's Kyza came along and revamped it all," Mr Jarzabek said.
"We had the idea of making the band, but we weren't very good songwriters and he gave us a boost.
"He plays for this other band, Grand Casual, and they've been basically like our grandfathers, our daddies, showing us what to do and showing us the ropes and getting us gigs and all that."
Engineers 'blown away'
Mr Bird said they spent nine days recording in each unique location, but the musicianship and recording knowledge from artists in the remote Aboriginal community of Warburton blew the sound engineers away.
"A number of the artists there were so quick, just so quick," he said.
Demos from Ngaanyatjarra Lands were recorded at Wilurarra Creative in Warburton, a communal multi-use space for the arts.
"Wilurarra Creative is a shining star and not just in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands, not just the Goldfields-Esperance region, but across Western Australia," Mr Bird said.
"They're just so supportive of the community and it's hard to be seen because they're all the way out there and Warburton — so I guess not a lot of the public get to see how great the work is that they do out there."
A useful start
WAM's regional recording project was started in 2006 by Nigel Bird, George Nikoloudis and the late Shaun O'Callaghan
Mr Bird said it had already helped other musicians to get their start in the industry.
"A good example is our Sounds of the Mid West, where we had a young artist in who's gone and recorded her next EP after recording her very first song," he said.
"It's been fantastic to see some artists really build a songwriting career and an artist career out of their first opportunity recording with the WAM program."
