What’s your stage name and where are you from?
Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra, and I’m from Magandjin (Brisbane) in Australia
What’s the story behind your stage name?
Hah! This is kinda hilarious, but people can never pronounce people my name Hsu (‘shoo’) so I chose Obscure Orchestra so people could latch onto something. I wanted it to be something that conveyed the experimental eclectic nature of what I like making, and give the impression of a strange and otherworldly ensemble of sounds.
When the project grew beyond a solo project to a 25-piece alt-orchestra, the name still fit true. We have folks that are non-binary, transgender, queer, disabled, First Nations, BIPOC and from refugee backgrounds. And all kinds of instruments from around the world.
Describe your musical journey in three sentences.
I consider myself a ‘punk-trained composer’. My musical journey was defined by mediocrity — just utterly average at trumpet in school, but despite that, I loved to play anyway. That ‘mediocity’ became a kind of strength for me, it meant freedom from expectation and a hunger to try all kinds of instruments from around the world, not to ‘master’ anything, but to enjoy getting the ‘knack’ of playing. Around that time I joined a folk-punk band called The Mouldy Lovers, and just experimented with these other young musicians with accordion and banjolele.
Rejecting the expectation of learning instruments the ‘right way’, led to me to discover (or accidentally develop) a hidden quirk: an instinct for weaving together sounds that were strange and weird, but beautiful to me. These became the first Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra songs.
After a while, Obscure Orchestra grew from a solo project to a literal orchestra, an anti-racist, alternative orchestra.
Share an interesting experience you had while creating your latest track.
I have a very tiny bedroom that I’ve filled with instruments, and made into a makeshift treehouse style Obscure Orchestra workshop. It’s features on the album cover for ‘Noodle’. It think it’s a perfect physical encapsualtion of these albums — this wonky maximalist music crammed into a tiny space, using bare bones equipment.
I have strong memories of recording and filming the music video for LIVE LAUGH DECOLONISE in there, cramming 20+ friends and musicians in there, it was nuts!
What message do you want to convey through your music?
Resistance against racism/imperialism/fascism can be joyful. Lean on your community, take care of your neighbourhood, and make the things you love.
Tell us about a challenge you faced during production and how you overcame it.
My challenge is capitalism, work keeps getting in the way of making music! Which is what I’d love to do all the time. There’s a song on the Forest Party album called Capitalism™, haha! Throughout the past 5 years of making these albums, I’ve juggled between 3 to 5 jobs at a time. Jobs I enjoy, but jobs that aren’t making music.
The making of the music itself is joyful, lovely and friend-filled, it’s just carving out that time!
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Hayao Miyazaki, I’d love to compose for a Studio Ghibli film. I adore those beautifully crafted films so much. Have you watched Castle of Cagliostro? It’s beautiful and jazzy and a joy.
A dream collaboration would Sheena Ringo, an artist I can best describe as Japanese Björk.
Also, Tom Waits, I adore his music/life philosophy.
There’s a band from Naarm/Melbourne called The Barons of Tang, who’ve been disbanded for some years. I would’ve loved to make music with them!
Where do you see your music taking you in the next year?
I’ll be a full-time parent for the next few years, so I’ll just be satisfied that my albums are released and in the atmosphere of “music that exists on Earth”, and available to any curious ears that want to listen.
I like to make music slowly, lovingly crafted, not on a commercially dictated release timeline, so I’ll continue to make music at my pace without worrying about where I ‘need to be’ with music.
What’s the next big step for you as an artist?
I’m not sure I want a ‘next big step’. I’m pretty content with being an artist that occasionally makes things, and people who find their way to it, enjoy it. Having said that, my orchestra have worked really hard with me these last 5 years, and I’d love for all of us together to turn up on a Tiny Desk Concert or something with that community, music loving, but beautifully and organically produced feeling!
I would love to travel with music in some capacity. That doesn’t have to mean touring. Maybe learning about music in different places, and engaging with it respectfully.
Where can we hear/watch your most recent work?
From obscureorchestra.com you’ll be able to buy a comic book (by Madi Marston and myself) that contains both albums of music. Also t-shirts with a music download, and vinyls soon.
We also have stuff on all the usual internet places, music videos on youtube, streaming and stuff.