The album release & this trailer follows the presentation of the live audio version of ‘They tore the earth…’ in over 30 cities across 10 countries in 2013-14 at festivals including Todays Art (Netherlands), Mozg (Poland) & venues such as Cave12 (Switzerland), A4 (Slovakia) & STEIM (Netherlands). The live A/V version premiered in 2014.

‘They tore the earth and, like a scar, it swallowed them’ is a very physical negotiation of territories voided by history. Forged from the historical dynamics of the settler colonial trope, the audiovisual performance plays out across four interleaved scenes, through the eyes not of the invaded but of the invaders to a harsh and unforgiving land. Rendered via field recordings gathered over 12 years in over 30 remote locations across Australia with new work from pipe organ, dubplates, guitar and low frequency oscillators. The visual component returns to many of these locations and was filmed in Australia over 10 days and 5000kms in February/March 2014 with additional filming in July/August 2015.

Amidst the heat and the dust, in a landscape populated only by the insinuation of characters, settler colonialists’ blind enactment of will and violence against and into an unforgiving, arid interior is manifestation of a mortal struggle. This story is not about a battle well-fought nor the romanticisation of ghost towns and their spectral remains. It is as if the settlers’ conviction in their misapprehension of the “willful, lavish land” is turned once again upon them, leaving little to tell bar a scar where the drama played out.

The studio version of this live set was released in October 2014 through Recorded Fields Editions in a visceral red transparent vinyl package. Further information about the project and its LP release at http://www.recordedfields.net/records/rfe_02