great statue
(weird-pop butch
performance-art-party-drag)
Photo by Connor Doyle
The Statue resurfaces with a stark and sombre 4-track EP after their explosive beginning to 2023. While nothing quite compares to the audacity of releasing 4 debut EPs in 4 weeks, Mouth Interior Downwards sidesteps into its own kind of incomparability. Forsaking the vaporwave beats of West Coast Blues, and alt-disco of GOES BUST, this restrained studio release leaks some of Statue's most serious explorations to date.
Still tinged with the tongue-in-cheek lyricism (literally 'tongue', in this case), the four track EP puts evasive lilting beats beside sparkling vox cycles, an underground club kick next to exposed saxophone harmonics, eerie multivalent subtext beneath explicit nonchalance. The EP mouths its way around ideas of erotic intimacy, wetness, our bodily insides and the glimpses we get into them. Could this be our very own glimpse into the off-stage Statue? When they're not beneath the bright lights, does the veneer wear off?
For a long time there was sand and dirt and tidal movements and later there were living things like human animals and indie pop and later still there were other things; things like stain-remover-sticks and things like hopeless devotion and then, finally; there a Great Statue appeared. She was uplifted (though she stood upon no pedestal) so that everyone need raise their chins and their eyes became the glowing orbs of upturned stage lights. In the shadow of the Statue, glamour and garbage collided in a flailing battle of wills, lofi and hifi were in a flirtatious punch-up, dumb drum machines popped their heads above grainy field recordings, and cheesy samples oozed over up-close lyricism. The watchers-on stood dumbstruck by awe, and the Statue maintained perfect composure amongst the perfect maelstrom they had set in motion.
A halo of light emanated from her silhouette, and swirling in the smoke appeared letters as if etched into stone:
THE GREAT STATUE ARRIVES BEARING GIFTS OF THEIR OWN MAKING. THEIR FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE DIGITAL REALM WILL BE CELEBRATED ACROSS THE FIRST MONTH OF THE YEAR TWENTY-TWENTY-THREE (2023) PUNCTUATED BY THE RELEASE OF FOUR (4) EXTENDED PLAYS (EPs) ON BOORLOO (PERTH) LABEL ROCKTON RECORDS. EACH OFFERING SHALL BE PRESENTED ONE
WEEK APART, COMMENCING JANUARY 10 AND CONCLUDING JANUARY 31. AS THE FINAL GIFT, THE STATUE HERSELF WILL APPEAR FOR AN EVENING OF IMPASSIONED MOTION AND CHEAP DRAMATIC LIGHTING ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3 AT PIG MELON ALONGSIDE LOCAL STALWARTS BUCKLAND AND DJs DOUG & ALANA. LISTEN NOW.
The great statue usually appears as a well-slicked, androgynous Laurie-Anderson-wannabe, lit from beneath by a cheap disco light, holding a bush chook in one hand, mic in the other: some strange karaoke performance of the classics you've never heard. The project frequently appears around the usual Boorloo and Walyalup haunts. Great Statue contributed the single Clementin to Inclusives, a compilation/remix album from women, trans- and non-binary gendered sound artists, presented by Fair Play and Tsuku Boshi. The single twenty fifth was released by Rathe on a V/A album titled Impressions/Sequences in 2018, featuring contributions from each of the artists that performed at the first Rathe events (‘Impressions’ and ‘Sequences’).
pics by mega-fan Luke Keatinge
