<
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/19/like-a-gothy-yoghurt-starter-how-neil-gaiman-and-an-australian-string-quartet-fell-in-love>
"Neil Gaiman is well known for his melodic, dreamy voice, which has been put to
use on everything from audiobooks to voicing the Simpsons’s cat Snowball. But
Neil Gaiman the singer? When he’d occasionally perform live with his ex-wife,
the musician Amanda Palmer, his voice was described by the
New York Times,
perhaps a little unkindly, as “a novelist’s version of singing”.
Next month Gaiman is bringing that voice to the Sydney Opera House, where he’ll
be performing with the Australian string quartet FourPlay. How is he feeling
about singing on one of the most prestigious stages in the world?
“Terrified. Absolutely terrified,” Gaiman sighs. “I’ve had to learn to trust
FourPlay. I’m always reassured by the fact that Lara can actually sing.”
“I’ve been a singer for 30 years and I’m equally terrified, Neil!” interjects
Lara Goodridge, one part of FourPlay along with Shenzo Gregorio and brothers
Tim and Peter Hollo. “We are all vulnerable on stage together. But I think
that’s a really lovely part of it – we’re there to catch each other. It’s
exciting to be that alive.”
How a goth English novelist and an Australian string quartet that does
Metallica and Radiohead covers became a match made in heaven seems beyond words
even for Gaiman, who recalls it as “like going on a blind date where you really
hit it off”.
The author and band met in 2010 when FourPlay were commissioned by the Sydney
Opera House to soundtrack a live reading of Gaiman’s novella
The Truth is a
Cave in the Black Mountains."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
