Listen
On this page, you can listen to and read about the music I compose. The selection includes pieces created for my degree at WAAPA, pieces composed for collaborations with other WAAPA students, and pieces composed externally.
'enutriet' for four grand pianos [2018]
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Everything resonates. From subatomic particles, to stars and galaxies. If space was filled with air, similar to our atmosphere, the sun could be as loud as a train horn from one meter away. Most resonances are out of the range of human hearing: the lowest sound is the resonance of a black hole in the Perseus cluster, approximately fifty-seven octaves below middle C, and sounds above the range of hearing are used for medical imaging. Musical instruments are designed to select and amplify resonance, but they can never be entirely pure; there will always be resonances occurring outside the selected note. In the piano, when a note is struck, the other strings will respond by vibrating according to its harmonic partials. In this piece, these partials are amplified, to explore the sounds of the piano not normally audible in performance.
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'that which once harboured' for 7.1 array [2018]
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This piece uses recordings captured at Shell Beach in the Shark Bay world heritage area on the central west coast of WA. The beach skirts a shallow bay with a very high salt content, which renders it unliveable for most marine life. Billions of tiny cockles are one of the few species that have adapted to the hypersaline conditions, and the beach is covered with their shells instead of sand. Despite the unique biosystem and beauty of this natural wonder, just a few hundred metres from the tourist area, the beach is bulldozed and the shells sold for industrial and agricultural uses. This version has been mixed for stereo, from the original 7.1.
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'Dredge' from Tobiah Booth-Remmers' choreography 'The Wedding' [2018]
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This is an excerpt of a piece I composed for Tobiah Booth-Remmers' choreography 'The Wedding', which he created for LiNK Dance Company in May 2018. The piece was premiered in Perth, and performed in Montpellier as part of the dance festival there in July.
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'Yashica Electro 35' short film [2017]
In July 2017 I composed music for two short films as part of the Revel8 Super-8 film competition, which is organised as part of the Revelation International Film Festival in Perth. In this competition, directors are required to create a short using super 8 cameras, and must shoot directly to film, and submit without editing. The films are then assigned to composers, who create a score without ever making contact with the director, relying on their own interpretation of the film. The two films I composed for, 'The Consultation', directed by James George, and 'Yashica Electro 35', were both exciting projects, and it was interesting to see the different ways that the directors used the limitations to their benefit when creating the films. 'The Consultation' won the Director's Choice award for the competition.
'Matter' dance film [2016]
This piece was composed for a dance film I worked on, which featured choreography by Michelle Aitken, and was directed by Jacob Brinkworth. The music uses mixing techniques to blend instrumental sounds with field recordings to compliment the natural setting of the film, and explores the concept of perspective and scale, in tandem with the visual elements of the film.
Matter from Michelle Aitken on Vimeo.
Fen [2017]
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This track was composed for a choreography by Ryan Stone, and was premiered as part of the WAAPA Unleash Dance Season. The piece progresses through various stages as the dance unfolds, and creates a phantasmagorical environment in which the dancers move and experience the atmosphere of the work.
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Impermanence [2017]
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This track was composed for a choreography by Alina Doyle, 'Nothing Matters and Everything isTemporary', which explores the Buddhist concept of Impermanence. The music begins by paying homage to the chant traditions of various religions and cultures across history, and then evolves into a ritualistic drum and chant section about half way through the piece. This work features incredible vocal improvisation by Philippa Catherine, and was premiered as part of the Unleash dance season.
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Ex Nihilo [2016]
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'Ex nihilo' means 'out of nothing', and this concept is explored in this piece by taking sounds which are normally extremely quiet, or which are often just a small part of our everyday sound experience, and placing them in a context where they become much more prevalent. The piece also features instruments, which develop the concept parallel to the electronic sounds.
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Tintinyungu [2017]
'Tintinyungu' is a word from the language of the Walmajarri people, who have lived in the Kimberly region of Western Australia for thousands of years. The word means 'to challenge or compete with', and this piece reflects that by pitting the guitarists against one another through the use of differing time signatures and rhythmic groupings across the parts. This piece was composed for the Silver Sands Guitar Trio (Jonathan Paget, Craig Lake, and Nathan Fischer), who premiered the piece at the Perth Town Hall on July 1st, 2017. The video of this concert is featured below.
Reviews
Azariah Felton’s 'Tintinyungu' was given its world premiere performance. Its gently flowing, charm-laden measures give way to more assertive moments. I’d like to listen to it again. The composer points out that the title means ‘‘to challenge or compete with” and the piece shows this by pitting the players against one another “through different time signatures and rhythmic groupings”. It’s fascinating fare. - Neville Cohn, New Oz Arts Review
'This Is Our First Rodeo’ is exciting and remarkable, choreographed by Michelle Aitken, with music by Azariah Felton, and design by Eilish Campbell. With the dancers in black cowboy outfits, edged in red, we are welcomed into the rodeo – or could it be a Highland Gathering? The fiddle music was catchy, and one of the dances reminiscent of a Scottish ‘Strip the Willow’. Who are the stars of the rodeo, the cowboys or the beasts? – This routine made one think.' - Gordon the Optom, The Independent Theatre Assosciation
'In Azariah Felton’s 'Harm Them', the music oscillates between ferocity and a sense of eerie, threatening unease. Frequently, it sounds creepy, phantasmagoric, ominous.' - Neville Cohn, The West Australian
'This Is Our First Rodeo’ is exciting and remarkable, choreographed by Michelle Aitken, with music by Azariah Felton, and design by Eilish Campbell. With the dancers in black cowboy outfits, edged in red, we are welcomed into the rodeo – or could it be a Highland Gathering? The fiddle music was catchy, and one of the dances reminiscent of a Scottish ‘Strip the Willow’. Who are the stars of the rodeo, the cowboys or the beasts? – This routine made one think.' - Gordon the Optom, The Independent Theatre Assosciation
'In Azariah Felton’s 'Harm Them', the music oscillates between ferocity and a sense of eerie, threatening unease. Frequently, it sounds creepy, phantasmagoric, ominous.' - Neville Cohn, The West Australian
