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Brillig
 For fans of Lewis Carroll, Year 9 English students and general Jabberwockies the name Brillig might make sense. For others, you may just have to read on to find out what it's all about...
The word Brillig comes from the poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll which has come to be accepted to mean around the time of four in the afternoon. Coincidentally enough, my interview with Brillig's singer/guitarist/drum machine technician and all-round nice guy Matt Swayne starts at the same time, though he prefers to see this in a less constricting view that it's probably because it suits the band a bit more so they don't have to play such an inconvenient timeslot.
"Brillig is about when the shadows grow long..." and while the shadow is in many of the bands that most would group them with, the colour is still there.
The influence of 'Through The Looking Glass' comes through in a lot of the band's work, most significantly in their latest release 'Mirror On The Wall'. The entire album has been recorded right here in Adelaide and showcases just how much talent we have here. Clearly, it show that there is no need to go overseas to big, expensive recording studios when everything we need is at our doorstep. Of course, the band themselves did a lot of preparation work to maximise the talent available to them.
"We demoed the entire album, so we did some pre-recording to see how it was all fitting and how it was all sounding, so when we went to do a professional recording we had a really good idea of the textures and colours that we wanted in the music." While textures and colours might be something that is normally discussed in visual art rather than music, it is an accurate description. After commenting that I agree the band is far from being black, Swayne describes things a little more eloquently. "It's evocative music, it creates moods and has a lot of colour in it, especially for music that has a dark undercurrent that runs throughout all the songs."
Brillig have made a few interstate trips and are travelling the country roads of Victoria as our interview takes place. They're returning from a show last night with their friends Dandelion Wine who are also on the German label Black Rain. After the label signed their friends, Brillig were smart and pro-active, sending the main man at Black Rain a copy of Brillig's stuff. "In his German phrasing he explained how it was one of the best albums he'd heard in a long time and picked us up instantly." In an industry where bands sometimes rely too much on scouts finding them or having everything served on a silver platter, it is good to see a band rewarded for their efforts. Their single is released in Germany on Friday, which they are obviously extremely excited about. With success in Europe the band could possibly get to tour overseas, something that would give them so many opportunities and experiences that they have already tasted from touring nationally to this point.
Continuing on and supporting this pro-active stance, the band is using artwork from local artist Jackie Reichstein of Bad Seed Designs. "A T-shirt arrived in our mailbox and it had her original artwork and we just thought it was incredible. So we contacted her and we've become really good friends." The cover insert displays her artwork, a mix of hand-made marionettes super imposed over her drawing, accompanying the band's lyrics set out in the form of a small book. The end result is quite special, enticing the listener to look through it more than once for its aesthetics and poetry.
Discussing a previous interview with the band regarding the limits of memory on drum machines I'm informed that the songs are now simply loaded up from an iPod, smashing my vision of a family of drum machines taking over their set one night.
As Adelaide gets frantic Fringe Festival fever, Brillig are happy to be involved in the historic first annual Fringe. An act such as themselves are a great example of what the festival is all about, as they blend multiple forms of art and media with shows that have included even the crowd dressing up for the occasion!
Brillig launch 'Mirror On The Wall' at the Grace Emily Hotel as part of the Fringe Festival on Thurs 15 March
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