Helen Svoboda - The Odd River

The Odd River is Finnish-born Melbourne-based bassist/vocalist/composer
Helen Svoboda’s surreal musical evocation of the collision of organic and inorganic, of the natural and unnatural.

The Odd River weaves moments of startling beauty, childlike playfulness and dense chaos. Featuring a large ensemble of Australia’s most intriguing performers, Helen’s quirky compositional style cycles through a rapidly changing landscape, seasoned by the eclectic instrumentation of double bass, voice, prepared piano, harmonium, zither, trombone, piccolo trumpet, woodwinds, percussion and virtuosic whistling.

Helen’s Finnish childhood in Kuopio deeply embedded a love of storytelling, in the lap of her grandmother Elina Karjalainen, the children’s book author renowned for the series Uppo-Nalle. At 5 she moved to the other side of the world, to Australia. In the forests of both countries she was free to roam, developing a sensibility that does not separate nature and art.

Her driving inspiration is her environment, she is struck by the weirdness of what we have done to natural world - and happily admits to being obsessed with finding uncustomary sounds, and ways of playing her instrument.

“A musician who absolutely defies categorisation” - The Music Show, ABC

The Odd River is both a film, and this album you hear. Composed with each musician in mind, and conceived to be recorded together, the pandemic shifted the process to each musician sending recordings from distant parts of Australia and Netherlands, and Helen multitracking with sound engineer Jem Savage, in an extended immersion in the sonic and production possibilities.

The Odd River film, made with filmmaker Angus Kirby, premiered at Longplay Melbourne in September 2023.

Deep in nature, out of time, through a river portal, a young woman discovers a genetically modified food source that gives her strange visions of the end of the natural world.

Helen Svoboda is a double bassist, vocalist and composer, growing up in a family of classical musicians. Her work explores the melodic potential of the contemporary double bass, intricately weaving extended techniques and overtones with vocal tessitura to explore themes of sonic unity amidst abstract song-writing, with a flair for "allowing difficult ideas to sound whimsical and free" (Kristin Berardi, AUS).

Helen lived and studied in the Netherlands and Germany from 2018-20, and has performed and recorded with projects including Sebastian Gramss’ Hardboiled Wonderland (GER) and Fresh Water Salt Water (Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Australian Art Orchestra), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and with artists including Pheeroan akLaff (US), Kari Ikonen (FI), Francesca Remigi and Federico Calcagno (IT), Mike Roelofs (NL).

In line with her active performance career, Helen has released albums across a substantial number of her own original projects to date, including her latest solo release I Heard the Clouds (Nov 2022 Made Now Music), Since Subito (in Meatshell, 2021 - Earshift Music) and her debut solo Vegetable Bass (2020 Made Now Music).

Her commissions include works for classical guitar ensemble, solo viola, and The Odd River, her largest scale work to date. She is currently studying a PhD in composition under the tutelage of Cat Hope at Monash University with a focus on graphic overtone notation.

Accolades include 2023-24 Musica Viva Australia FutureMaker; 2023 Australian Music Centre MOMENTUM commissions (recipient); 2020 Freedman Jazz Fellowship (winner); 2020/21 Australian Art Orchestra Pathfinder; Helsinki International Artist Programme, on Suomenlinna 2023 (recipient, supported by Australia Council for the Arts).

Personnel

Helen Svoboda - double bass, voice

Andrew Saragossi woodwinds, apple crunching

Flora Carbo alto saxophone

Niran Dasika trumpets

Erik Griswold prepared piano, toy piano, music box

Joseph O'Connor prepared piano, harmonium, zither, trombone

Mike Roelofs whistling

Chloe Kim percussion

Jacques Emery production

The Odd River was filmed on the lands of the Yaggera, Turrbal and Yugambeh peoples, the original inhabitants and storytellers.

This project was made possible through the support of the Freedman Jazz Fellowship/The Music Trust

Album: The Odd River

Release: 22 September 2023

Catalogue Number: EAR080