In Peak Plastique Australian duo Clocked Out, Erik Griswold (piano) and Vanessa Tomlinson (percussion), team up with Anna McMichael (violin) in an examination of the ubiquitous presence of plastic across our environment. Through 11 contrasted compositions, they reflect on the paradox of plastic, the powerful material that has become indispensable to our safe, technical existences, while causing exponential damage to our planet through its seemingly unstoppable proliferation.

In this kaleidoscopic album, each piece explores a musical textural world of its own, being inspired by a specific synthetic or natural element, ranging from polypropylene and PVC to seaweed packaging. Intricate rhythmic patterns mirror the structures of plastic molecules while the trio's instrumental practices incorporate plastic bags and other plastic found objects while. Extended instrumental explorations include McMichael playing violin with plastic bottles to produce pitch slides and percussive effects; Griswold interweaving nylon fishing line with a grand piano to conjure haunting, ethereal drones; Tomlinson covering a vibraphone in bubble wrap to create a spiky musical counterpoint.

The music explores a complex dynamic, evoking the feeling of both fascination for plastic and a deep sense of precarity. Some pieces express a nostalgic longing for a time when seas were cleaner, while others present a stark, reflective look at the friction between futuristic hopes for sustainability and the tough realities of our plastic-filled world.

Tracklist

• 1. Polypropylene 4:03 (Griswold)
• 2. PVC 2:37 (Griswold)
• 3. Peak Plastique 4:02 (McMichael)
• 4. Nylon 3:28 (Griswold, McMichael, Tomlinson)
• 5. Lego 4:43 (Tomlinson)
• 6. PET 3:32 (Griswold)
• 7. VCM 6:31 (Griswold)
• 8. Bubble Wrap 4:32 (Tomlinson)
• 9. Sustainable Seaweed Packaging 6:44 (McMichael)
• 10. Eucalyptus Obliqua DNA 3:47 (Griswold)
• 11. PTFE 3:30 (Griswold)

Polypropylene (excerpt)

PVC (excerpt)

Peak Plastique (excerpt)

BIOGRAPHIES

ANNA MCMICHAEL

Anna McMichael is a violinist and artistic researcher able to perform diverse styles of music from early to experimental. Anna has performed at many European music festivals with a number of Dutch chamber ensembles and toured extensively with groups such as the London Sinfonietta, Amsterdam Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra, Nieuw Ensemble, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Anna returned to live in Australia in 2010 after 17 years in Europe. In Australia, she has been guest assistant leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, guest associate concertmaster of Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and guest concertmaster of Orchestra Victoria. She has recorded for a number of European recording labels and been active teaching masterclasses and workshops in conservatoriums in both Europe and Australia. She performs throughout Australia and between 2014-2019 was Co-Director of the Tyalgum Music Festival and is a core member of the early music group, Ironwood. Anna is lecturer and Co-ordinator of Strings at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Monash University, Melbourne. The questions of climate change, air and water pollution, and their impact on nature, have been a constant thread through Anna McMichael's music production, as heard in Open Polar Sea on Unsounds (2013).

CLOCKED OUT

Erik Griswold and Vanessa Tomlinson form the duo Clocked Out, who create original music for prepared piano, percussion, found objects, and toys. Drawing on a wide variety of influences from experimental, jazz, and world music, Clocked Out has since played everywhere from Sydney Opera House to Roulette (New York) and Super Deluxe (Tokyo). Recently they have focused on site-specific, environmental and architectural works, initiating a number of large-scale projects dealing with issues of cultural heritage (Sounding the Condamine), environment and extinction (Sonic Dreams), and acoustics (84 Pianos, Vibrations in a landscape).

Vanessa Tomlinson

Vanessa Tomlinson is a percussionist-composer with a long history in experimental music. She makes bold sonic events that propose new futures for 21st century music whether on a rockface, in the bush, sounding objects, or following flooded river systems. Central to all her work is listening - opening our ears to paying attention to the world around us as we consider space and place, the human and the more-than-human. Driven by the unknown, her speculative text-based compositions, object-based re-purposing, and deep sonic gatherings stimulate our imagination as we listen in a climate-transforming world.

Her work orbits broadly around extended approaches, site-specific investigations, minimalist reductions and a visceral sense of embodied play. She has toured the world for 30 years, premiering hundreds of works, musicking with scores of improvisers, presenting work at major international festivals, and sharing her knowledge as a teacher, mentor, director and arts advocate. She is Professor of Music, Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.

Erik Griswold

Composer, pianist and sound artist Erik Griswold works across contemporary classical, improvised, and experimental forms. For over thirty years he has explored the outer limits of percussion and piano, in projects such as Ecstatic Descent (“powerful music that connects with both the natural with the spiritual”, Sequenza 21), Time Crystals (“a kaleidoscopic exploration of timbre, texture and rhythmic interplay”, RealTime), and 84 Pianos (“joyous and brilliant”, The Australian). 

Born in Los Angeles and now residing in Brisbane, Griswold’s work has been presented at Southbank Centre (London), Carnegie Hall (New York), Sydney Opera House, and major festivals throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific. He has received the Australia Council Fellowship in Music, the Michael Kieran Harvey Scholarship, several APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards, including “Work of the year: Dramatic (2022)” and an ARIA nomination. His music can be heard on record labels ABC Classics, Room40, Mode Records, Cold Blue, Innova, Neuma, Move, Immediata and others.

CREDITS

1. Polypropylene (PP) C3H6
Erik Griswold - prepared piano, violin, vibraphone
2. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) C2H3Cl
Erik Griswold - humous container, violin, Stars Wars plastic, piano
3. Peak Plastique
Anna McMichael - single use plastic bags, plastic bottle, bread bags, drums, vibraphone, violin, prepared piano
4. Nylon (C6H11NO)
Griswold, McMichael, Tomlinson - bowed fishing line piano, violin, plastic knife, plastic straws, plastic cord and bowed vibraphone
5. Lego - Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) (C8H8)x·(C4H6)y·(C3H3N)z
Vanessa Tomlinson - piano, scordatura violin, vibraphone, drums
6. Vinyl Chloride (VCM) C2H3Cl
Erik Griswold - vinyl LP, vibraphone, piano, violin
7. Bubble Wrap - Low-density polyethylene
Vanessa Tomlinson - bubble wrap (audience participation), vibraphone, drums, violin, piano, chopsticks
8. Sustainable Seaweed Packaging
Anna McMichael - melodica, waldteufel, violin loop pedal, piano, violin, vibraphone
9. Eucalyptus Obliqua
Erik Griswold - data sonification of eucalyptus oliqua DNA (Messmate), messmate leaves, messmate twigs, piano, violin
10. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) C2F4
Erik Griswold - violin, piano, vibraphone

Recorded by Samuel James Pankhurst at Lagavulin, Harrigans Lane.
Mixed by Erik Griswold.
Mastered by Samuel James Pankhurst at Poverty Castles.
Developed with generous support from Monash University, Creative Arts Research Institute (Griffith University) and Harrigans Lane Collective.
Live video images Nick Roux.
Thanks to Nick Roux for the visual component gracing the album cover.
Design by Isabelle Vigier.
All music by Anna McMichael, Erik Griswold, Vanessa Tomlinson.