Jessica Lindsay Smith

Biography

Jessica Lindsay Smith is a Melbourne-based composer who is passionate about music that crosses the boundaries of genre. Holding a Bachelor of Music (Honours) from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Jessica has worked with ensembles within local and international contexts to create music with a focus on vivid colours and unusual sounds.

Jessica’s interests span from intricately written chamber music to largely improvised jazz, from film music to installation soundscapes. The common thread being a search for novel colour palettes and an intrigue for curious textures.

Composer website:  http://www.jessicalindsaysmith.com

Featured Works

He Hears Nothing, for prepared drum kit with electronic track.

The original field recording for this piece was taken at a property in St Andrews, Victoria. Photographer Craig George recalls standing on the side of a road just after the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, “Not a sound. Not a bird, not a bug, no cars, people or animals of any description.” I was particularly taken by these statements, only knowing the property in which the audio was taken from with it’s winter and spring landscape of flourishing green. Whilst the landscape is harsh in summer, the space celebrates vivid regrowth after destruction.

Featured in Vocal Waves (September 2017).

Shinjuku, for alto saxophone, bass clarinet, trumpet, percussion, piano, double bass, drum kit.

Inside the Meiji Shrine, the bustling, non-stop chaos of metropolitan Tokyo is a distant echo. The slick koi weave and dash through the water in a seemingly choreographed ballet. Long beaked birds duck in and out of the water, taking care not to interrupt the fish. The air is crisp and brushes past the leaves of trees overhanging the lake. Nearby the trains announce their arrival and the chitter-chatter of the city calls on.

Featured in Fragile Waves, June 2018

Young and wandering, for alto saxophone, piano, double bass & drum kit.

Young and Wandering is about a journey that doesn’t travel from start to end. It is an aimless wander, enjoying the beauty in resonant sounds. The piece celebrates the timbral differences and similarities amongst the jazz quartet, in ways not often explored with these instruments.

– Jessica Lindsay Smith

Featured in Harmonic Waves (May 2019).