Prepare to be transported on an idyllic journey through jazz, R&B, pop, and classical traditions with Turiya, an all-star trio hailing from Boorloo (Perth).
With their debut album 'Bliss' scheduled for release this Friday (28 June), the trio of Michelle Smith (harp), Kate Pass (double bass), and Talya Valenti (drums) formed in 2020. "In Hindu philosophy, Turiya represents the true self," Michelle says, discussing the origins of the group's name. "Our main inspiration, Alice Coltrane, adopted the name 'Turiya', embodying both a Hindu spiritual leader and an extraordinary jazz harpist."
Individually, each member of Turiya brings a wealth of experience and accolades to the project. Pass is an award-winning bassist currently on scholarship at The New School in New York, who leads the Kohesia Ensemble.
Valenti has featured in a number of projects including Methyl Ethel and Stella Donnelly. While Smith – who trained at Berklee College of Music – has captivated audiences with her solo harp performances and collaboration with Karnivool.
Ahead of their home-town launch show for 'Bliss' at The Rechabite (4 July – Kate has returned from NYC for the performance), we get to know Turiya a little better with Talya supplying the responses.
Who is Turiya... We are an instrumental trio from Perth/ Boorloo. We are Michelle Smith on harp, Talya Valenti on drums and Kate Pass on bass, and we play an eclectic mashup of jazz, classical, pop and R&B styles.
We sound like... Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby fused with some modern jazzy backbeats.
Our first gig was... In the basement of The Rechabite about three years ago; we will be launching our album in the main hall of The Rechabite soon.
In the studio we... Have a non-stop supply of drip coffee and lots of food prepared to get us through our recording schedule.
If we could tour with anyone... It would be awesome to take POW! Negro on tour with us. He collaborated on the track 'Solace', which is coming out on the album.
Social media is... A double-edged sword, to use a cliche.
My favourite app at the moment is... Metronomics and Bandcamp, haha!
Life on the road can be... Exhilarating and exhausting.
If you had to live in a city abroad, where would you choose and why? Our bassist Kate relocated to NYC to study with the jazz greats, but she is coming back to play our album launch. This band has made it through a long-distance relationship for about nine months so far!
If we were coming over to your place, what would you cook us? If you come to our next dinner party, you will be having a vegetarian, gluten-free meal, due to the dietary requirements of our band members and the recording engineer. It would be good though. . . maybe Mexican with corn tortillas, or maybe palak paneer with rice. There would definitely be a cheese board and red wine before the meal.
The last time I saw the inside of a gym was... A few days ago. We try to do the bare minimum at least, to stay physically and mentally healthy – we all happen to play and lug very big instruments all week too.
Do you have any phobias... No, but sometimes there are those stress dreams where you forget to bring your instrument to a gig or you rock up to a rehearsal and you didn't learn the music that you were supposed to.
Best local takeaway joint for a midnight feed that will leave you with a food coma? It is VERY difficult to get a midnight feed in our home town unfortunately! Billy Lee's used to be a classic when we were going to late night gigs after uni.
Last show you binge-watched? 'El Amor Despúes Del Amor'. It's a biopic about Fito Paez, an Argentinian pop-rock musician. It's pretty well done and he writes incredible music, as does Charley Garcia who is also part of the show.
