Australian composer and producer Madeleine Cocolas’ most recent album “Ithaca,” released earlier this year, was named as one of the albums of the month by NPR. She’s worked with choreographers Holly Cooper and Valeria Gonzalez and sourced music for Australian TV shows like “Please Like Me” and “Dance Academy.”
Cocolas contributed a short musical interpretation to four artworks in A Women’s Thing’s current online exhibition Off Canvas. “I took a very intuitive approach to writing music for Off Canvas, in that I followed my instincts in terms of how each artwork felt to me, and what parts of the artworks spoke to me. I took these gut instincts about how each artwork felt on an emotional level, and I then turned my emotional response to the artworks into an audio response, taking into consideration the textures, colors and shapes,” Cocolas describes her process.
While the curator of the exhibition Yassana Croizat-Glazer took over our Instagram yesterday to visit Cocolas in her studio for a live demonstration of her piano play, we caught up with the composer recently to talk about her work and how she finds inspiration in field recordings.
You’re a music artist from Australia, but you’ve lived in New York and Seattle. How have your experiences in the U.S. influenced your work? How has your creativity fluctuated between your moves?
Madeleine Cocolas: Living in the U.S. had a huge influence on my work and helped shape my practice as a whole. Whilst I had always written music, it wasn’t until I moved to Seattle that I really took composing seriously and dedicated my time to creating a proper body of work. My time in Seattle culminated in me writing and releasing my first album “Cascadia” which was a tribute to the Pacific Northwest region. When I moved to New York after Seattle, I jumped straight into creating music there as much as possible. This included becoming closely involved in, and writing music for an incredible New York City-based dance company Valleto, which is headed up by artistic director Valeria Gonzalez, as well as releasing music on a number of labels, including my album “Metropolitan” which was directly inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
My creativity constantly fluctuates, and after I complete a large project I usually take a bit of a break until I feel the urge to start creating again.
I took a very intuitive approach to writing music for Off Canvas […] I took these gut instincts about how each artwork felt on an emotional level, and I then turned my emotional response to the artworks into an audio response, taking into consideration the textures, colors and shapes.
You just mentioned your album, Metropolitan, and that it is inspired by artworks in the Met here in New York City. What is the relationship between your music and the artworks you’ve selected? Should listeners be able to look at the corresponding pieces while they hear your music?
Madeleine Cocolas: “Metropolitan” was a really fun album for me to make. The concept behind it was creating an album based on nine individual artworks in the Met that resonated with me. Using custom software to analyze the artworks in different ways—for example looking at colors, lines and textures—, I incorporated sounds generated by the software into my compositions, with each piece being my own personal audio response to an individual artwork. My intention is definitely to have listeners be able to look at the corresponding pieces while they hear my music, and I actually created an accompanying e-booklet to go with the album that explains the process I took with each different artwork.
Tell us a little about how you approached making or selecting the music for Off Canvas, our current online exhibition?
Madeleine Cocolas: I took a very intuitive approach to writing music for Off Canvas, in that I followed my instincts in terms of how each artwork felt to me, and what parts of the artworks spoke to me. I took these gut instincts about how each artwork felt on an emotional level, and I then turned my emotional response to the artworks into an audio response, taking into consideration the textures, colors and shapes.
It can be so rewarding to see how creative ideas can intersect and merge to create something that is bigger than each individual’s input. Collaborations have taught me to be flexible in my approach to music, and to be able to adapt to changing ideas quickly and creatively.
What are some examples of field recordings that you’ve recently incorporated into your work?
Madeleine Cocolas: I absolutely love working with field recordings! And staying true to my DIY beginnings, I usually use my humble phone as a recording device. Once I have some rough recordings on my phone, I import them into whatever software I am using—which these days is either Logic or Ableton—-where I process and manipulate the sounds to create the kind of soundscape I’m after. My recent album “Ithaca” has quite a few field recordings, including a recording of me walking through leaves in my backyard on a track called “Past The Floodline.” Another soundscape I did a few years ago was an ocean soundscape I created for textile artist Monique Van Nieuwland’s exhibition using only sounds Monique had recorded of herself using her loom and weaving. Using field recordings and creating soundscapes can become quite technical, and I think it is a fascinating process manipulating sounds so that they become something quite different from their original iteration.
What are some interesting learnings or experiences you’ve had when collaborating with other composers, music artists, dancers, and visual artists?
Madeleine Cocolas: I really enjoy collaborating with other artists, whether they be musicians, dancers or visual artists. It can be so rewarding to see how creative ideas can intersect and merge to create something that is bigger than each individual’s input. Collaborations have taught me to be flexible in my approach to music, and to be able to adapt to changing ideas quickly and creatively.
What’s the next project you’re working on?
Madeleine Cocolas: I have a few projects on the go at the moment, including some musical collaborations, scoring a short film and getting ready to release a few singles on various labels later this year. I released my album “Ithaca” earlier this year, and I suspect I’ll want to start another solo project in 2021 sometime.