Mediocrity. Matt FitzGerald from Decoder Ring doesn’t want a bar of it. There is no law of averages, Matt talks with conviction and an arrogance of knowing. He loves Decoder Rings new album, the soundtrack for the latest Australian film “Somersault”, and he love “Somersault” in its own right. He would rather I hated every part of both rather than sit on the fence in indecision.
This defiance extents to Decoder Ring’s creative integrity. As artists and musicians, their creative ideals are not something they are prepared to dilute. Matt sees the compromise of these ideals effecting far more than the individual.
“I feel that every musician has almost a duty to try and push the boundaries of music and move music forward. Because if music or culture does not do that and culture stops trying to move forward, then society becomes regressive and before you know it, what do you have? You have new rock and going to FUCKING war the whole time. Which is what we are in at the moment! Which is my point. The second everyone stops trying to take the world a bit forward in whatever they do, you just allow the forces of conservatism a bit more space.”
With such strong personal agendas the idea of Decoder Ring “collaborating” raises all sorts of curiosities. Matt assures me the relationship with director Cate Shortland was one of mutual respect and a shared aesthetic that pretty much left Decoder Ring up to their own devices.
“Cate with us was very much, I want you to do what you do. I want your take on the whole thing. Which was fantastic. We had this amazing creative freedom and at the same time got on really well so had a good sense of what she wanted. So we talked on really abstract terms, rather than do this and do that, about what Heidi (main character) was about and what we were trying to do in each scene. So it was a really pure relationship if that makes sense. Which I don’t thing is very common.”
With critics labelling Cate Shortland as the “Australian film maker of the New Millenium”, and lead actress, Abbie Cornish, being called the next Nicole (!!!!), time has never been more NOW for Decoder Ring to stick up their hands and be counted as the latest Australian export in sound design. However, their taste for international acclaim, attending this years Cannes Film Festival and witnessing “Somersault” receive a standing ovation, has not left them starry eyed. Their passion for creating has not been bastardised and the decision to pursue more work in film will be judged on a case by case basis.
“It really comes up to the people involved and the quality of the script. Even with this (Somersault), we spoke to Kate a lot before and read the script and actually saw a cut of the film, and we went off for a long period of time before we all sat down and then committed. And I think that it is important that you are not only true to yourself but also what ever you do. I don’t think it is fair on anyone when people get involved for things for career advancement because it tends to be userous and it tends to actually shine through, I find. So, if you are trying to do something which actually resonates (word said VERY slowly and very deliberately), their has to be a belief, and an honesty for all those involved in it.”
Part of the honesty which makes “Somersault” such a heart movie, as Matt calls it, is the exploration of the characters. Decoder Ring were an important part of this exploration, especially for the Heidi. The often dreamy sound scape Decoder Ring created offers a different mode though which Heidi communicates with the audience, expressing her feelings and thoughts. It reveals a side to Heidi that she does not necessarily translate though the way she interacts and reacts in her environment. “We tried to get into her mind and tried to find the way she saw the world, which is quite innocent but at the same time, with a darkness to it, but with also a childish type playfulness.” Says Matt.
Another creative challenge “Somersault” presented to Decoder Ring was to try and create an album that wasn’t going to date the film. Most films that employ contemporary music, regardless of how timeless the story or beautiful the images, face this dilemma (and we all have our favourites!). “We didn’t want to make an album that was now, we wanted to make an album that was really timeless…...it was a good lesson for us as musicians as well. To try and seek immortality”, Says Matt.
Matt goes on to express his general disdain for the rate at which commercially driven pop music turns over. He does not aspire to be anyone’s flavour of the month. ”.....we are trying to take the idolatry out of it, because there is so much idolatry in music (said with distaste and heavy emphasis placed on the word idolatry) that music becomes more and more in the background – promotion and cooperate pomp and ceremony around people comes to the fore, – it is actually a dishonest thing, and actually just a way to manipulate people to get money out of them. That is just something we don’t want to be part of.”
Matt Continues, “That is the great thing about Somersault. We set out to make the most beautiful, gentle album possible. Which was kind of like our statement – at the time when rock becomes cooperate, the most rock thing you can do is not to rock. Which is what is so cool about this. It has got its own attitude and it is trying to do its own thing, which is the essence of the rock attitude without any of the rock posing.”
Decoder Ring may just be the new New Wave ROCK. But that can be our little secret.
Decoder Ring’s original soundtrack to the Australian film Somersault is out now through Inertia. You can catch them on their East Coast tour this October:
Fri Oct 8th, Sydney – Gaelic Club
Sat Oct 9th, Melbourne – The Corner
Sat Oct 16th, Brisbane – The Zoo
