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Song You Need to Know: Joelistics x Garden Tiger, ‘Memory Palace’

The latest taste of his forthcoming Film School project, ‘Memory Palace’ sees Joelistics teaming up with Melbourne underground cello/guzheng/synth group Garden Tiger.

Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore*

Mere weeks after the release of his latest track, Joelistics has returned with the latest instalment in his Joelistics Presents Film School project, offering up the Garden Tiger collaboration, “Memory Palace”, today.

Having first teased the project earlier this month by way of “YOKAI”, Joelistics’ Film School project is slated to receive an official release in 2021, though an online premiere is set to take place in early December.

Inspired by a trip to his birth land of Malaysia in 2016, the seeds of the Film School were sewn by way of a number of Canto pop records of the ’70s and ’80s. Before long, Joelistics found himself collaborating with artists such as Parvyn Singh (The Bombay Royale) and Hailey Cramer (HAYCH) to create a mesmerising mix of music.

The result blends Pan Asian psychedelia, post-rock stylings, and lo-fi synthscapes, dusty loops, and traditional Chinese and Western instruments, all alongside the underlying urge to meditate on the anxiety of our times and the transcendence that comes from facing fear.

The latest cut from this project is “Memory Palace”, a collaboration with Melbourne underground cello/guzheng/synth group Garden Tiger to create a sensual piece which alludes to fear and its connection to the senses.

Pairing the track with visuals directed by Rhys Graham, and filmed between lockdowns at the Shizuka Ryokan Japanese Country Spa Retreat in Hepburn Victoria, the clip features MaggZ, an exciting young dancer and choreographer, Elle Shimada, a Japanese Australian performer, producer and violinist, and Yumi Umiumare, who is considered Australia’s leading Butoh dancer.

“During lockdown, I became obsessed with dreams and memories and the idea that they are not stored, they are recreated every time we think of them,” Joelistics explains. “With the video, we tried to show, in an oblique way, the fear of losing one’s memories, the ever so slight shift in how we picture things when we remember them and the quietude of memories degradation.”

Joelistics will present the online premiere of his Film School project at this year’s Mapping Melbourne festival, which is presented by Multicultural Arts Victoria. Taking place online on Thursday, December 3rd, the free premiere will also feature an in-conversation event between Joelistics, his collaborators, and Margot Tanjutco. For more information, visit the Multicultural Arts Victoria website.

Joelistics’ “Memory Palace” is officially released on Tuesday, November 24th via Odd Head Music and Ditto.