From humble beginnings in Adelaide to making history at Eurovision, the ARIA-award winning duo Electric Fields, consisting of vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding and music producer and composer Michael Ross, are ready to return to their hometown for an unforgettable sold-out show on opening night.
“Fringe is the best! It’s like a creative fireworks that the whole community is a part of and that is right up our alley,” says Ross. “Adelaide and South Australia mean a lot to us. It’s where Electric Fields was born and performing on Kaurna country is always special for us.”
Known for their soulful pop and upbeat electronica sound, the pair are more than musicians but also master storytellers, weaving Fielding’s traditional languages of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara people into their works.
Last May, they made history as the first Australian Eurovision contestants to incorporate First Nations language into their entry, ‘One Milkali (One Blood)’.
They were also joined on stage by Garrwa and Butchulla man Fred Leone, who became the first yidaki (didgeridoo) player to perform at Eurovision, in an unforgettable performance of First Nations culture to hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide.
“Australia has hundreds of traditional languages and it means a lot to us to share Anangu languages with people,” says Fielding. “It brings a lot of pride to Aboriginal people to hear this living language loud and proud. It also gives non-Indigenous Australians another way to participate in the deep culture of our continent. And it’s exciting to hear international audiences being so curious about Aboriginal culture.”
While they’ve performed on stages across the world, nothing quite compares to the magic of the Fringe with their 2021 show, INMA, holding a special place in their hearts as “one of our best ever.”
“You could feel the ripples of euphoria pass through the entire venue. Also, there’s nothing quite like walking through The Garden of Unearthly Delights or Gluttony in the evening with the glow of the lights and the menagerie of venues. It feels like walking inside some kind of magic,” says Ross. “The audiences are made up of every kind of person you could imagine. So it feels like performing to the whole world with intimacy. Plus the venues have a brilliant vibe, like the ghosts of circus performers and performance artists are onstage with you.”
Reflecting on their own beginnings, they say the opportunity to perform at Fringe is “priceless” for emerging artists.
“There are very few cities in the world where an emerging creative can literally materialise any idea into a real life experience, and people will come,” says Fielding. “The audiences will take a chance on the art even if they’ve never heard of you. There’s no gatekeeper saying maybe you can possibly have a show after you develop your fanbase. Na. It’s a tsunami of art accessible to everyone.”
They finished 2024 with the release of their first live album in a mesmering collaboration with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, combining their dance tracks with organic timbres of wood and metal.
“It’s been beautiful to hear the emotional content of the harmonisation in our music to be expanded and reimagined by a symphony orchestra,” says Ross. “There were some unexpected things too. Seeing the up and down motion of the bows in the string section, it felt like the instruments were literally dancing to the beats.”
Electric Fields, Lion Arts Factory, 21 February