Glossolalia by We’re Not Afraid of the Dark

We’re Not Afraid of the Dark is the sensing-sounding collaboration of Matt Warren and Gail Priest. Fueled by shared interests in dark ambient, post-industrial and folk-inflected electronica, We’re Not Afraid of the Dark’s music manifests through intuition, improvisation and interconnection.

The title of this release, Glossolalia, reflects how Matt and Gail seek to tap into alternative sonic languages, that may commune equally through similarity and difference.
This recording documents a concert that accompanied a two-part exhibition of the same name, part 1 a solo exhibition from Matt and part 2 a group exhibition curated by Matt featuring Gail’s work.

This performance illustrates their preferred structure in which each artist presents a short solo, one segueing into the other, then extending into a collaborative exploration of their offered material, a conversation and mutual call and response. Sitting on either side of the performance space, Matt and Gail attempt to transmit and receive hidden messages at a distance. A blend of organic field recordings and live vocal material projects orphic sounds and data.

We’re Not Afraid of the Dark formalises many years of Matt and Gail’s collaboration much of which has occurred remotely (even before a pandemic), including posted installations, sample swapping and audio commissions. It wasn’t until 2017 that they finally collaborated in person composing and performing soundscapes for the Unconscious Collective’s roadside church pilgrimage between Launceston and Hobart for Dark MOFO. This confirmed their creeping suspicion that they had sympathetic approaches and should conspire to create more opportunities to explore their own brand of ethereal and brutal beauty.

Room40, a beacon of sound...ringing out from the deepest south. Also home to our sibling labels Someone Good and A Guide To Saints.

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