Doors 7:45 PM, Music 11:30 PM – 2 set(s) of music
About
Queer Jazz exists to platform queer jazz artists and nurture an emerging queer jazz scene. Founded by international DJ and journalist Tina Edwards and award-winning musical artist Arowah, they wanted to create a safe and celebratory space for queer artists, audiences and allies. They’ve since been featured by the likes of Clash Magazine, Jazzwise and Jazz FM.
afromerm is the solo project of 2023 Oram award-winning composer and sound artist, Cecilia Morgan. Her work draws from contemporary, jazz, and cinematic sound worlds. afromerm blends electronic elements with live instrumentation, spoken and sung vocalisations, and her self-built motion-reactive instrument, Juniper, to create soundscapes that immerse us into the elemental mythology of her project. Building on afromerm’s elegant and eclectic debut release “held” which premiered on Bandcamp in 2023, for which she was named a sonic innovator by Martha on BBC Radio 1, her free-form live set expands this sound world with live-looping, deftly blended into beats and scapes.
Emma Volard is a future-soul artist whose music has made huge waves in the “so-called
Australian” industry, garnering attention from Australian (Triple J) and international tastemakers (BBC) alike. From Emma’s sophomore solo release in 2019 neo-soul jam ‘Arachne (Feat Pascal)’ to their hard-hitting feminist LP Deity, their music has continued to evolve, landing them festivals including Meadow, Big Sound and WOMAD, and pivotal supports such as Corey Henry and Thundercat. After the avalanche success of their debut album Deity in 2022, future soul artist Emma Volard released their sophomore album Alibi.
Alibi represents years spent honing a signature sound that encapsulates Naarm / Melbourne’s experimental neo-soul and jazz scene. Emma has never shied away from being a warrior for inclusivity, and these themes are often at the forefront of their storytelling. This has placed them as a leader within the Naarm music community, and turned the heads of industry heavyweights such as Gilles Peterson, Jamz Supernova, Thundercat, Cory Henry and Zan Rowe. Alibi sees Emma stepping confidently into their own sonic world, expanding further on their introspective storytelling and pushing the limits of the future soul sound.
Of the new album, Emma reflects “Alibi is an album that I used as a means to dive into my own experiences head-on. Gravely real and at times confronting, it debates the wholly complex and resilient growth of finding oneself and grieving the life I once thought I needed. I wanted to write an album set for the intimacy and darkness of the dance floor. Music and dance are so deeply moving, and give the space for collective healing and self-expression. That’s what this album was made for; connection, expression and restoration.”