Echo-Location | Presented by Goolugatup Sounds
Description
“I speak to maps. And sometimes they say something back to me. This is not as strange as it sounds.” - Abdulrazak Gurnah
Echo-Location is a special edition of Goolugatup’s ongoing live music series and explores the mapping of places, spaces and stories through sound.
Showcasing a diverse lineup of local and national artists including:
Helen Svoboda (naarm/VIC)
Theo Carbo (naarm/VIC)
Jack Collard (aka brrrbook, Whadjuk boodja)
and
Simon Charles Ensemble (Ballardong + Whadjuk boodja)
in conversation with Katie West's installation work 'Rockpools', showing now at Goolugatup as part of the 'RITA 3: Fit For People' exhibition in Gallery 1.
Echo-Location considers how sound can recall landscapes and journeys and shape our sense of the world; how sound can tell stories, with or without text; and how musical instruments become maps of sonic possibilities - with their fringes pointing towards unexplored, adventurous territory.
This event is part of Melville Storylines Festival 2026. To view the full program, visit melvillecity.com.au/storylines
Venue Accessibility
Physical access: Goolugatup gallery is wheelchair accessible via footpaths / low-incline ramps, and ACROD parking is available nearby. Main entry is 1.4m wide, and accessible toilet doors are 0.9m wide. Toilets are unisex. Performances will take place outdoors, with elements in the gallery's Project Space.
Lineup
Helen Svoboda
Helen Svoboda is a double bassist, vocalist, composer and nature-enthusiast. Her work explores the melodic potential of the contemporary double bass, intricately weaving extended techniques, overtones and vocal motifs into singular song-forms and compositions. With Finnish/Australian heritage, Svoboda lived and studied in the Netherlands and Germany from 2018-20, specialising in soloistic double bass composition. Driven by the spontaneity of improvisation and the novelty of large wooden instruments, she channels facets of childlike playfulness and raw intensity into a “purposeful storm” (Charlotte Haesen, Jazz Maastricht). Svoboda's practice frequently revisits ideas of place and perspective, movement and landscape. Her instant-classic 2026 album 'Headwater’ takes its title from the origin point of a stream, a place of pure potential - "as if asking the listener; what, after losing my compass, is the nature of my experience?" (Callum Mintzis). The record weaves in threads of Svoboda's Finnish ancestry and love of folk music, coalescing into something that seems to reach across time and geography; vivid and deeply embodied. “A musician who absolutely defies categorisation” (Andrew Ford – The Music Show, ABC)
Theo Carbo
Theo Carbo is a guitarist, composer, engineer and producer whose practice moves fluidly between improvisation, experimental composition and sound production. First recognised for his distinctive approach to improvised guitar, he has since performed and collaborated with artists including Barney McAll and Andrea Keller as well as contributing to new works for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Speak Percussion. His broader practice encompasses recording, production and experimental sound, alongside an ongoing interest in the relationship between historical musical ideas and contemporary listening. For Echo-Location, Theo will present new solo music that draws on late-medieval and Renaissance approaches to pitch and time, combining modular synthesis and improvisational guitar to explore these older musical languages as maps - points of departure for navigating the fundamental qualities of sound and form.
Jack Collard (aka brrrbook)
Jack Collard is a proud citizen of the Nyoongar nation with cultural ties that span from the pristine beaches along the coast of Whadjuk country, through the wetlands of Boorloo over Kaartamoornda (Black Hills) to the granite outcrops of Ballardong Boodjar that are home to the Mungart tree. Jack completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Political Science and International Relations, at UWA and he is currently a full-time performer. Jack sings, dances, acts and writes poetry in response to the Boodjar he is sustained by and all those that sustain her. He is a Board Director for the Community Arts Network (CAN) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander International Engagement Organisation (ATSIIEO).
Simon Charles
Simon Charles (he/him) is a composer, saxophone player, and electronic musician. His work is about listening closely to others and to the world around him — with deep attention to change, fragility, and reciprocity. Charles learned from key figures in Australian experimental music, including Anthony Pateras, Ros Bandt, Jim Denley, and Warren Burt. He has played at Clinton Green's Quiet Noise festival; worked with the group AvantWhatever; performed often at Melbourne's Make It Up Club, and appeared at Tone List's Audible Edge Festival in WA. Charles belongs to the Phonetic Orchestra, a group that started in Melbourne in the early 2010s and now has members in Melbourne, Berlin, and Noongar Ballardong country. In 2022, the group won an APRA Art Music Award for Silent Towns, a 24-hour live-streamed performance linking Berlin, Melbourne, and Fremantle. He also collaborates across art forms — notably with visual artist Katie West on installations in Australia and overseas, and with poet John Kinsella on works about Noongar Ballardong country, where they both live.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
Register
This event has passedRegister
This event has passed
More events from this host
