Third Floor: Ashes & High Homes

Third Floor is a month of performances curated by Tamara Murphy featuring tertiary students and their bands. Each week sees two bands perform live, with the emphisis on collaboration and exploration.

This week: Ashes & High Homes

Ashes

Ashes is a new project comprised of mostly original music by trumpet player Ashley Ballat. All compositions are heavily influenced by the European jazz aesthetic. Soundscapes, tone exploration, stretched time and group improvisation will amalgamate to create a stream of textural music.

Ashley Ballat – Trumpet
Nick Freuwirth – Alto Saxophone
Daniel Waddingham – Guitar
Charlie Rank – Double Bass
Jasper Bruten - Drums

High Homes

In their harmonic and textural endeavours, the newly assembled suburban five-piece, High Homes, have been mixing their influences of jazz, soul, and rock in order to forge their own sound, designed to leave you feeling impassioned and entranced.
The five band members, Matthew Whitbourne (Lead Vocals), Ainsley Turner (Keys), Joshua Nelson (Guitar), Damien Roach-McCarter (Bass), and Lachie Riggs (Drums), have been working hard to develop each other’s ideas into the sonically pleasing sounds that they collectively create.

With all the members' various tastes of music, it’s quite noticeable that their collective inspirations influence their style. Whether it be the sonically influenced sounds of Tame Impala and Massive Attack, the harmonic and melodic influences of Radiohead and Pink Floyd, or the arrangement and timbre of Hiatus Kaiyote and Ainslie Wills, High Homes really are a melting pot of genre and style.

The quintet formed through a competition at Box Hill Institute, where they wrote their first song ‘Floating’ which one the awards for ‘Best Song’, ‘Best Mix’ with help from their audio team, and ‘Best Overall’. Riding on the success and creativity of the competition, High Homes decided they would further pursue this musical endeavour and see what songs they would create next.

Over the summer, the group’s hard work resulted in the creation of many different moods ranging from calm and groovy, to haunting and moody. These feelings are then progressed through the deep and thought-provoking lyrics, displayed through Matt’s passionate vocals. Tie this all together and you get these creative stories being told through both High Homes’ lyrics and music.