After a sold-out debut season at the last year’s Melbourne Fringe, unique Melbourne choir collective If You See Her, Say Hello is set to enchant the stage of the Garden of Unearthly Delights’ Spiegeltent tomorrow night.
If You See Her, Say Hello is comprised of a group of Melbourne-based women, all of whom are independent singer/songwriters in their own right. Tomorrow’s performance will feature 21 vocalists, although the group fluctuates between fifteen to 30 voices, where each singer takes a turn to perform an original song whilst the other performers form a backing vocal group to accompany her.
South Australian-born songwriter Cookie Baker was the driving force in kickstarting the project, asking Brooke Russell to assist her with forming a group of interested artists.
“I’d had this seed of an idea blossoming for a little while, picturing a spectacular diverse group of female singer/songwriters singing en masse, promoting community as well as independence, collaboration as well as individual promotion,” Baker tells ripitup.com.au.
“The format of the show itself was always about pulling intimacy and inclusivity out of such a large group of performers. It’s a truly supportive environment and our audiences have really latched on to that and become a part of it.”
The collective is influenced by an enormous and diverse range of musical genres, bringing to the table a raw fusion of folk, indie pop, surf blues, soul, gospel, Americana/alt-country and jazz.
“There’s a lot going on within the extended group of babes! In terms of background, it’s nuts – there’s jazz-trained country singers, choral arrangers, self-taught guitarists, lifelong performers, late bloomers, musical theatre kids, people who can’t stand musical theatre,” says Baker.
Many of the performers have created spinoff collaborations outside of the choir, and Baker states that the artists who were already in pre-existing bands have enjoyed the opportunity to strip their songs back and arrange them in an entirely different way.
Baker shares that one of the highlights in If You See Her, Say Hello’s brief history took place during their debut shows last year, where the audience was brought to tears. “It sounds melodramatic, but it was really highly emotional and we were knocked for six by the audience’s response to what we knew was already very special, even just singing together in the privacy of rehearsal.”
If you miss out on the one-night-only event, If You See Her, Say Hello member PHIA will be performing a three-show solo season at the Grace Emily Hotel this Fringe season.
“[PHIA] is a classically-trained jazz pianist who uses the kalimba (African thumb piano) and loop pedals to create crazily catchy, intelligent pop songs. She’s a very engaging performer and definitely someone you want to see again after seeing her perform once,” says Baker.
After their Adelaide Fringe performance the group will head over to the Brunswick Music Festival in Melbourne, followed by some more exciting developments surfacing later in the year that they plan on keeping secret for a little while longer.
Make sure to secure your tickets now for this intoxicating musical experience while you have the chance!
If You See Her, Say Hello hits the Spiegeltent at The Garden of Unearthly Delights on the 27 February at 5:00pm. Secure tickets online at FringeTIX.
Comments