Septet for the End of Messiaen (2025)

Once Upon a Time, Brentley Frazer wrote a poem based on Olivier Messiaen’s famous work Quartet for the End of Time, though in a most oblique and localised way. Messiaen composed the music for fellow inmates during WWII, while interned in a prisoner of war camp, subsequently accruing many legends. Frazer’s language catalysed Septet for the End of Messiaen. To summarise: a father escapes the city on a road trip, rescuing his daughter from the ‘suburban bardo’ sharing an extended monologue on the state of the world. Danielle Bentley narrates the entire poem at structural nexuses, emerging from the landscapes connecting cities. Kayleigh Pincott sings flotillas of poetic flotsam and jetsam, spontaneous, drifting countermelodies. I thought for quite a while on what-how to compose. Which sounds and attitudes would suit the poem? Frazer’s poem ranges from potent existential bleakery, plus a twist of humour, an invocation of the iconic city bird, the ultimate survivor: 

‘How can I protect my daughter? I can pick myself up from among the fallen, shake off the windscreen glass & pick over the victims for bling, like a butcher-bird, an eagle, a vulture fighting over the soul meat of an angel carcass on the freeway. Sacred ibis &/or profane bin-chicken, its feathers & leather spread a kilometre like someone microwaved a bondage swan.’ 

… to imperialist inflections inspired the Deranged Multi-Horticulturalist character in the cover art, by Chloe McAllister, and the fourth movement of the septet. 

‘… like deranged multi-horticulturalists tending inflicted gardens in savage yards of irons & gums, planting oaks & roses & flagpoles anchoring imperial ships on the ancient ocean floor, into the red earth’s flesh, & ancient skulls.’ 

… to parsing meanings parallel to reality, with the sweetest close, inspiration for the second movement, Stultus Star Children

‘We are giddy stultus star-children, silly & ignorant the detritus of everything we’ve believed & mistaken for truth semiotics logical & lexical lilies for love & also at funerals, we learned it from the slosh of amniotic fluid, the protective belly-hold the pregnant show before she knows it & gives up alcohol & coffee, the only reassuring rub that matters, a hug from Her.’ 

An obvious departure point was to snip literal fragments from the score, weaving them into new material, so as to become transversally recognisable. Such as the solo sections of Stultus Star Children and Deranged Multi-Horticulturalist, where glitched fragments of Danse de la Fureur Pour les Sept Trompettes, propels improvised solos. Or the mirrored movements of God are You There Man and Blood and Golden Feathers sparsing the solo clarinet melody from Abîme des Oiseaux, accompanied by, guttural, scraping strings, plaintive horns, and aleatoric poem clusters. The abyss of the birds is further represented by improvised birdcalls. 

Messiaen’s text book outlining his musical language was a huge inspiration, with scales of limited transposition and retrograde rhythms anchoring language. A language which, drawing forth past memory and future projections, pinioned me into extended moments of flowing composition, an improvisatory approach, where I transformed and exorcised ear worms circulating through my mind. Looping iterated arcs of time passed as I rescratched, creating visual palimpsests, transforming, interconnecting, and layering, ear-bound.

In such a project, visions are interwoven. Each performer brings their unique voice, feel, and creativity to the recorded version. From the first performance at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, to the recording roughly two years later, each performer inspired revisions. Ensemble Sooon inspired, with Danielle Bentley, on cello and vocals, Nozomi Omote on drums, and myself on saxophone, plus guests Carl Harvoe on trumpet, Brodie McAllister on trombone, Kayleigh Pincott on vocals, and Annie Silva-McKnight on double bass. Made Now Music is a constant support, releasing Ensemble Sooon’s third album. 

It is somehow fitting that Brentley’s poem is an epic journey of father and daughter, and somehow, during the process of this, I find I also have a daughter and have begun my own journey. Beyond this I say listen, perhaps enjoy, and for sure ‘let’s take this service exit & get a happy meal.’ 

Released July 25, 2025

“Septet for the End of Messiaen” is the third studio album by Brisbane-based experimental collective Ensemble Sooon, set to launch on Saturday, 26 July 2025, at Vacant Assembly in West End, Brisbane . This ambitious project reimagines Olivier Messiaen’s seminal Quartet for the End of Time, using its fragments as springboards for new compositions and improvisations. The result is a vibrant fusion of contemporary chamber music, avant-garde jazz, and spoken word.​

Composed by Martin Kay, the septet features a dynamic line up:​

• Martin Kay – saxophone/composer
• Carl Harvoe – trumpet
• Brodie McAllister – trombone
• Danielle Bentley – cello/narration
• Annie Silva-McKnight – double bass
• Nozomi Omote – percussion
• Kayleigh Pincott – voice

The album also incorporates the poetry of Brentley Frazer, adding a layer of literary depth to the musical exploration .​

Released on the Made Now Music label, Septet for the End of Messiaen showcases Ensemble Sooon’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of modern chamber music through dexterous ensemble playing, virtuosic improvisations, and innovative compositions.

Raw (2024)

Ensemble Sooon is an experimental powerhouse trio of cello, woodwinds and percussion. They use composition, improvisation, poetry, chance and virtuosity to construct a unique sound world. Featuring Martin Kay (sax/clarinet), Danielle Bentley (cello/poetry reading/voice) and Noz Omote (percussion/voice), Ensemble Sooon is at the zeitgeist of modern chamber music, exploring the edges of classical music performance, drawing on sonic energies and creative approaches from multiple directions. For this concert, Sooon performs new arrangements of Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares To You’ featuring the poetry of Brentley Frazer. There is a new arrangement of Hauer’s ‘Atonal Music’, whose atmospheric work was in stark contrast to his great rival, Schoenberg. Kay’s ‘Ligeti’s Goat’ reaches back to the twelve tone tradition, exploring a quirky rhythmic approach and juxtapositions with reggae and improvisation. Kay’s Glasshouses delves into expressionistic minimalism, with virtuosic circular breathing, exciting poyrhythms and hummable melodies. Raw features music honed during their live performances.

Released October 6, 2024

Tacet Chronicles (2023)

Tacet Chronicles relates a non-linear and abstract response to tacet, featuring the first recording of David Reastons’s complete Tacet Suite. Each performer brought in verbal responses to the score. A surprising array of materials manifested, from invented whispered vocabulary to a poem about a dead bird, a poem about looking for inspiration in a fridge, a recitation of linguistic structures with visceral demonstration, and in a stroke of meta, two versions of the instructions read out; one in Japanese and the other backwards, blended with strings playing staggered glissandi imitating shepherd tones. A special emphasis was placed on incidental sounds normally backgrounded. The Chesterfield armchair, the subject of much shooshing during the recording, became a feature instrument, finally liberated from its need to be heard. Even AI put its hand up, offering new definitions and variations on the word tacet. Tacet Suite structures work like a thread, holding the sonic interplay together.

“Transmogrify” by Ensemble Sooon (track 4 in Tacet Chronicles) draws inspiration from insect metamorphosis. The term “transmogrify” itself evokes transformation, and in this context, it reflects the ensemble’s exploration of the intricate and often surreal processes of change found in the insect world.​

The track features circular-breathed microtonal saxophone, ping pong ball percussion, and a heavy groove in seven played by cello, creating a soundscape that mirrors the complexity and unpredictability of metamorphosis. This composition is part of Ensemble Sooon’s debut album, Tacet Chronicles, released in July 2023.