Driftwood is the duo project of Naarm-based experimental musicians Nick Ashwood and Aviva Endean. They have released two albums on experimnetal msuic label ROOM40.
Performing face to face, with back to back organs, Driftwood meets in a microtonal, buzzing, blurring landscape. Their unique instrumental line up features two re-tuned antique pump organs, which create a resonant backdrop for their primary instruments of clarinets (Aviva) and guitars (Nick), complemented by modular synths and electronics. Their slowly evolving music draws influence from minimalist, drone and folk traditions to create a generous and shimmering sound, inspiring a hypnotic and transformational quality of listening in their audiences, who are momentarily immersed in this harmonic expanse.
Nick and Aviva met as two prominent members of the Naarm/Melbourne experimental and improvised music scene. In Driftwood their two distinctive artistic voices come together to create music which is not about virtuosity or individuality, but a joyous and open form of playing which is a reflection of the music communities that the two artists have been immersed in for over a decade.
Following our 2024 self-titled release, Nick and I were compelled to make another record, expanding on the distinctive sound world we have found as the duo Driftwood.
Grounded in the unique instrumentation of two microtonally re-tuned pump organs, alongside clarinets and guitars, the sonic landscape of Driftwood has become a welcoming place for us to inhabit together. The distinctive characteristics of these instruments, as well as the challenge of playing multiple instruments simultaneously, have become a frame we’ve leaned into more and more, trusting the vitality of their combined resonance to lead us further into uncharted paths of improvisation.
For our second album, we wanted to incorporate additional elements from each of our solo practices into our sound: modular synth, effects pedals, electric guitar and contact mic’s (because playing two instruments at the same time wasn’t enough for us!)
In ‘Maps’, electronics are subtly worked back into the original improvisations, saturating the live instrumentation with bass undertones and signal processing, pushing the sound into more otherworldly realms.
Sometimes the pieces hint toward song-like forms, with repetitive guitar ostinatos lulling the music to the edge of familiarity, while other times the drones and harmonies blur, creating the ground from which glimpses of folk-like melodies surface, as if from a long-forgotten dream.
From Nick and Aviva on thier debut self-titled albumAE: Nick and I have been circling around each other for years through the experimental/improvising communities of Naarm and the Sydney based group, The Splinter Orchestra. Since we both started living in the same city we talked about making music together, so when we finally sat down to have a play, we already had a wealth of shared points of reference. There were so many directions the music could have taken us in.
NA: We firstly tried an electronic, layering approach to sound making. Then Aviva started to play on one of my small reed organs that I’d recently been fixing up and returning into just intonation. As I only had one organ at the time we both recorded a small solo, me playing acoustic guitar and organ and Aviva with clarinet and organ, then we layered them together. When listening back we instantly knew that this would be our sound together, this would be our music. Soon after I had gotten another reed organ, we quickly got together again and played together with two organs, clarinet and acoustic guitar.
AE: This distinct sound world we now refer to as ‘Driftwood’. Performing face to face, the 2 antique pump organs create a resonant backdrop which buoy our simultaneous improvisations on clarinets and guitars.
NA: The combination of the two reed organs with their unique non-equal tempered tuning creates a different sensation in the air, the vibrations move differently, the harmonics are more expressive, and feel more alive. Then adding acoustic guitar and clarinet into the mix adds another level to the sound.
AE: The harmonics from all of our instruments meet to vibrate the air all around us. It’s like stepping into another world, almost as though the music is a folk tradition from an imaginary planet we have only ever visited in our dreams. The playing feels generous, joyous, free from preciousness, full of openness and trust. There’s a kind of reverential, gently ecstatic quality, dissolving of the idea of duality, a letting go of virtuosity, an embrace of sound to create a world where the listener listens not to, but from within.
