Michael,
thanks for the question.
The Necks, when performing live, never discuss beforehand what will happen. Our music, in the live performance, is never prescribed – verbally or otherwise; it “discovers” itself while being made by us and we, in turn, respond. To set out to try and fulfil a stated “aim” would result in music very different to “Necks’” music.
This is relevant because Unfold resembles, possibly more than any of our other “studio” albums, a live approach. That’s not to say that certain “traits” don’t come to the fore (certain methods that appear frequently in other Necks’ pieces), but these “traits” reside in a deep, non-verbal layer of the group’s methodology. I certainly don’t deny that landscape and nature play an important part in what it is we are trying to express, but exactly how this happens is largely a mystery.
I don’t set out to mimic or sonically construct particular settings in nature. Having said that, I believe there is a strong connection between the seemingly repetitive and gradually modulating nature of much of Australia’s landscape and the music we make. I also see that there is a connection between myself (and other members of the group) having grown up on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the aesthetic choices I (we) make.
Chris (The Necks)