“The NOISE is a string quartet for the new century” - Sydney Morning Herald
One of Australia’s most intriguing ensembles, The NOISE began life improvising together
in a little terrace house in Sydney, fusing together their multifarious musical
personalities and interests from across the musical spectrum, into a unique ensemble
sound. Their members have worked for the likes of The Australian Chamber Orchestra,
Sydney Symphony, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Sydney Dance Company, and
collaborated with musicians such as Joanna Newsom, Gurrumul, and The Presets.
It is their wide variety of musical experience that makes this quartet an interesting
amalgamation of players. All are classically trained, yet, cellist, Ollie, studied both
percussion and jazz piano in his formative years and plays cello in a number of jazz
bands. Veronique spent many years playing violin in avant-garde Sydney pop band,
CODA and she was a founding ensemble member (along with violist, James) of one of
Australia’s pre-eminent new-music groups, Ensemble Offspring. James also specializes
as a Baroque and Classical period violist. Violinist Mirabai, has worked in Sydney’s freejazz improv scene, travelled to Bangalore to study Carnatic Indian music, and tours the
world playing Balkan and Greek fiddle. The NOISE are also rather fond of their collection
of guitar effect pedals and group frequently plugs into amplifiers, opening up a whole
other world of sonic possibilities.
All of these influences have converged to create an unusual form of collective virtuosity
within the group, and an arsenal of string playing techniques not typically found
amongst classical string quartets. The NOISE’s approach to musical creation is also very
different from classical string quartets, placing improvisation is at the centre of its
artistic process, and utilizing processes more familiar to bands, such as collective
composition and collaboration.
The NOISE’s first album, Spontaneous Improvisation, was created entirely out of
improvised and semi-composed material of the quartet’s own devising. It received Four
Stars from the Sydney Morning Herald’s, jazz critic, John Shand, who described the group
as “four young Sydney players who have taken to improvisation like birds to flying ...
share an aesthetic that free improvisation may dare to be melodic, evocative, starkly
beautiful … and cohere with sometimes uncanny precision”.
Also receiving 4 Stars from SMH, their 2nd album, Composed NOISE (released, 2013)
attempted to marry the individual compositional voices of 7 Australian composers with
the collective improvisatory voice of the quartet. The largest single addition to
Australia’s quartet repertoire, it is a collection of 7 newly commissioned works for
improvising string quartet by 7 wonderfully imaginative composers. Due for release in
2015, are 3 albums: The NOISE’s 3rd album, Stream; Across the Top (a Tall Poppies
release composed by Paul Cutlan; and a NAXOS release - Georges Lentz’s 6-hour long
masterpiece, String Quartet(s).
The NOISE was Ensemble in Residence at Wollongong University in 2012, and is
Ensemble in Residence at the Australian National University for 2015.
Guided by a spirit of musical adventure and artistic interplay, The NOISE has worked
with a number of great Australian composers and improvisers - most notably, Judy
Bailey, Georges Lentz, Danny Weltlinger, Lyle Chan, and Paul Cutlan – and are always
keen to extend themselves in new creative directions.
The NOISE are:
Violins – Veronique Serret & Mirabai Peart
Viola – James Eccles, Cello – Oliver Miller