My high school music teacher used to refer to the school music room as “the place instruments go to die.” It’s not the most encouraging remark, but it’s also not inaccurate. I remember trying to learn guitar at lunchtime on a fourth-hand, fifty-dollar Stratocaster rip-off with two missing strings. You couldn’t bend too far forward, because the pickups would fall out, dangling by a pair of wires.
I’ll keep the name of my high school under wraps, but needless to say, we weren’t producing any triple J quality music. Brisbane’s Trinity College, on the other hand, is a completely different world. The school are currently producing some of the country’s most promising and exciting emerging acts.
Having produced such artists as Ashely Nkomo, Jessica Platell and 4-K, Brisbane’s Trinity College delivering some of the country’s most exciting emerging artists.
With their music program headed by music faculty teacher Dave Campbell (Sometime Sonny), the school offer a free songwriting and recording program to their students. And let us tell you, the results are pretty bloody impressive.
Ashley Nkomo is a twelve-year-old songwriter from the college who crafts beautifully ethereal indie-pop tracks that will wrap themselves around your body. Diving into her track Beautiful is a completely immersive listening experience. Having already racked up some play on triple J Unearthed, Nkomo is an artist you’re definitely going to want to keep an eye on. We’re expecting big things.
Elsewhere in the program, Jessica Platell weaves together earthy instrumentation with angelic vocal delivery. It’s a unique combination of electronica, indie-pop and folk that belongs entirely to herself. Simultaneously down-to-earth and cinematic, her single Obstacles & Addictions is the kind of track we can picture taking over playlists all over the country. Keep an ear out… Jessica Platell is coming to a speaker system near you.
Alex Manirambona (otherwise known as 4-K) takes elements of indie-pop and melts them into a hypnotic blend of psychedelia and hip-hop. His music feels like it’s melting around you, drenching your mind in lush sonic soundscapes. With shimmering synths and dreamy vocals, his track Without A Warning is the perfect soundtrack to a neon-coloured hallucination.
Each of the songs listed above were recorded by Dave Campbell and produced by Hugh Middleton (Out With The In).
If you like to keep your finger on the pulse of great emerging Aussie music, let us give you a hot tip: keep an eye on Trinity College, Brisbane. Everything they’ve released so far is quality. These are still early days in the careers of these students, but judging by what we’ve heard so far, I think we can safely expect plenty more great material.
For now, do yourself a favour and listen to tracks from Ashley Nkomo, Jessica Platell, and 4-K above.
