Electric Fields create beautiful, soft, electronic-soul music that moulds perfectly with singer Zaachariaha Fielding’s indigenous language, Anangu.
Zaachariaha explains that their sound was created by having fun. "It was created through jamming in the studio. I was on the show 'The Voice' and sort of created a sound there, then I went to Michael and said 'let’s do something fun' and this sound was born."
Michael Ross, the producer, explains that being completely immersed, lost in feelings and stories is how the boys create their beautiful, electro-soul music. "We start with a hint of what we are going to create. We build and picture a story for a song.
"We imagine the world we are going to create and have a look around, get a feel for what the person is thinking and feeling. We then add instrumentals and make them fit the feelings of the world."
The boys like to challenge and break barriers when it comes to creating music and challenging gender. With a hint of humour in his serious tone, Michael explains how important it is to be yourself and challenge society’s ideas. “I’m not worried about negative comments. If people have a problem with two guys being themselves they need to check themselves out! They are the ones with issues," Michael says.
"If they do have a problem they can stop enjoying things they did before, they can never sing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' again and they can go and live in their unrealistic, heteronormative boring world with bad haircuts because honey we have given you a lot."
Incorporating the ancient Anangu language is key for the boys. "It's 100 per cent important, it's a part of Zaachariaha; it's one half of him,” Michael continues. “To ignore that part, well that would mean missing out on a huge opportunity, it's one of the deepest cultures of the world that is left. There is gold, diamonds and gems in the indigenous culture; to not incorporate it would just be stupid," Michael says.
By using his language, Zaachariaha has gained the feeling of 'royalty' and echoes Michael’s thoughts. “I think it's a beautiful opportunity for an Indigenous singer to work with a non-Indigenous producer. It represents both Australia's through music. It has given me such a feeling of power and royalty, feelings that I should've felt before."
Electric Fields will be playing the Dub In The Park festival, something they are excited about. “I’m excited to be around the people, experience the food, jamming with other artists," Zaachariaha says.
Sharing their music and playing live gives them total enjoyment. Michael explains the enjoyment he gets from seeing Zaachariaha perform and the audiences reactions. "We have spent a lot of time in the studio, it's like our second home where we come up with these ideas. To then take it out and share it with people, see their reaction and them following the idea, watching their bodies react is just the ultimate reason to share.
"It's also really fun to hear the music loud and dance it out while watching Zaachariaha who has this other Zaachariaha who only comes out on stage. He just thrashes around in such a natural, free-flowing way with helicopter hair kinda like a peacock, which doesn't really describe it. When I'm watching I'm like 'holy f*ck dude''; it's out of control, but in the best way."
With passion and confidence, Michael explains how they will continue using music to pass every possible barrier. "Using the different cultures is a real strength; sometimes it passes barriers. We want out sound to develop and become a bit of everything. We already have bits of classical, electro and instruments; we don't worry about the normal boundaries of music because whenever you ask someone what type of music they like they usually say 'I like a bit of everything'.
“That's because people connect with good songs and sounds that make them feel something. As humans we love variety, we have a variety of favourite things and we want to continue to be diverse. Our life is like a vehicle that feeds into the music and then we take that energy and ideas and turn it into a three-and-a-half-minute track."
The boys already have a second EP in the works with intentions to release an album when the time is right. "We are working on the second EP as we speak. It'll probably be five or six tracks.
"We have at least two albums worth of material just sitting there waiting to be realised and tended too, but we have to pick our time and go with what we are feeling and what's gonna sound good. We have to restrain ourselves with picking what we release, when the time is right we’ll definitely release an album," Michael says.
The future for Electric Fields is bright. "We would love to get our second EP out because right now we only have six songs! Six! Once we get to an hour set we will be able to start looking at playing bigger festivals, touring internationally and collaborating with other artists and even other cultures," Michael says.
Electric Fields plays Dub In The Park at the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre 5 November.
