Soft Music

21 Feb 2024

Soft Music is an experimental shō and electronics duo featuring Sydney-based musicians Elliott James and Henry Liang.


Elliott James AKA Quantumplex is deeply rooted in experimental sound design and unconventional composition, blending modular and hardware synthesisers to create textural soundscapes, organic synthesised nature sounds, and out-there grooves.


Henry Liang plays the Japanese shō (笙) – a traditional free-reed mouth organ with a history spanning over a millennium. The shō is one of the three primary woodwind instruments used in gagaku, Japan's imperial court music from the 7th century. Consisting of seventeen bamboo pipes of varying lengths neatly secured by an outer metal ring, the shō's distinctive shape resembles that of a resting Ho-Oh (phoenix) and its ethereal sound is often described as reminiscent of the legendary bird's cry.


Soft Music showcases the beauty of how this unprecedented and unlikely combination of instruments interact, not just with each other but also with the unique reflections and resonances of different performance spaces. Their long-form improvised performances bring a fresh and nuanced approach to sonic exploration, bridging the past with the present, acoustic with amplified, and chaos with order.

Performances

Performances

Wednesday 21 February 2024, 6:30pm & 8:15pm

Location

Phoenix Central Park
49 O'Connor St, Chippendale

Tickets

Free, by ballot only

Strobe lighting and other intense lighting may be used
Haze may be used

Ballot closed

Ballot draw date: Monday 12 February 2024

Ticketing FAQs

  • All performances at Phoenix Central Park are free.

  • Phoenix Central Park is an intimate performance space and tickets are limited. Due to high demand, tickets will be issued at random to those who have entered each ticket ballot. Each performance has a separate ballot, so if you would like to attend multiple performances, you will need to enter each ballot separately.

    We advise you to listen to the artist you are entering the ballot for, and consider which shows you’d really like to attend. Entering more ballots does not increase your chances of attending.

    Please only enter our ballots with your own details - if we catch you using false details, you won’t have any luck. We reserve the right to cancel any tickets we believe are obtained through false information at any time.

  • If you are successful you will receive an email up to ten days prior to the performance with instructions on how to claim your tickets.

    This offer is only valid for a limited time. Unclaimed tickets may be forfeited. You will have the option of confirming up to two tickets for a performance.

  • No, your tickets will be valid for a specific performance only. If you are unable to attend, please pass the ticket onto a friend or contact us at tickets@phoenixcentralpark.com.au to allow someone else the opportunity to attend.

    You can enter ticket ballots for your chance to attend another performance.