Melbourne Australia’s Suldusk, the new project created by mastermind Emily Highfield’s debut album Lunar Falls has arrived last month (order here). The record is a collection of a number of musical styles ranging from dark folk, doom, atmospheric black metal to post rock. We spoke to Highfield herself to get to know more about the project.
Can you discuss more about the project?
Suldusk is a one woman project which is based on atmospheric acoustic guitars, and built from there. It was essentially me wanting to create the style of music that I wanted to hear.
What is it like combining different elements of music together?
It is very exciting to organically fuse elements of the styles that I enjoy the most together. I’ve always loved the intimacy of acoustic but wanted to also explore some third wave atmospheric black metal flourishes and post rock elements of shimmering electric guitars within the compositions, when possible.
How long was the writing process for Lunar Falls?
The tracks did not take long to come together – about four months for all the tracks. It was the recording that took double the time!
What is the Australian black metal scene like?
The black metal scene here is quite healthy – there is lots of diversity within the realm – from atmospheric black metal of Greytomb to the raw dissonance of Christ Dismembered and post black sounds of Encircling Sea and depressive sounds of Deadspace. I have had the privilege of playing on bills with these bands and they have all been very welcoming and supportive.
How important is branching out to other markets such as Europe and North America to you?
I am very glad that social media platforms allow people from around the world to access my music. It is a very niche sound, so I find my people scattered around the world. I posted off vinyl and digi CDs to Norway, Finland, Europe, US, New Zealand etc. It’s been very heartening to connect with them.
How would you describe your live performance?
I like to keep the song performances as musically en pointe as possible. But in between tracks, I enjoy engaging with people. It calms my nerves and reminds me that it’s all about connecting – especially for an introvert!
What challenges have you experienced before and after Lunar Falls?
What a great question. The recording of Lunar Falls took far too long, for reasons outside my control. It was frustrating but I was committed to seeing it through. The challenge after the album came out was I wasn’t prepared for how busy my life would get. It is a great problem to have though.
Is there anything else you want to say or add.
While so far I have been performing in an acoustic ensemble, I am so excited to be working on bringing Lunar Falls to life on stage, with the bigger atmosphere that it invokes. I have a wonderful group of committed musicians around me, and am excited to perform these songs with this bigger vision. Also, I have started working on demos for the next album, and some collaborations with some of my favourite artists. It has been a busy and good time.
