Lack The Low

Lack The Low is the project of Melbourne-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Kat Hunter.

Never taking any one route for granted, Hunter re-examines compositional boundaries by paving a thoroughfare between pop immediacy and the dark and often impenetrable avant-garde. The resulting soundscape is one where hooks coexist with odd time signatures and complex chord progressions. It is a challenging mix of pop, math rock, post-classical, and noise, delivered with unfettered honesty.

A defining feature of Lack The Low’s sound is the digital sculpting of raw audio, often to its extreme. Field recordings of magpies and frogs are distorted beyond recognition, saxophones are corroded to guttural roars, and strings are twisted to piercing screeches. Hunter takes an uncompromising approach to achieving her vision, staying at the helm of the writing, sound design and recording processes, and performing most of the instruments herself.

The resulting work of Lack The Low shifts across the emotional sphere without warning. A once tranquil soundscape abruptly turns hair-raising and distressing, and vice versa. The fluidity of the sound is like every feeling you’ve ever known occurring at once. It rains; it shines; it is stinging hot; it’s icy to the touch. The wavering sensations that Hunter stirs up with her sound give a cool reminder that even the most polarising of our emotions are still only an arms-length apart.