THEMBI SODDELL

sound artist

The work of sound artist, Thembi Soddell, offers a distinct voice in Australian experimental music. Working across recording, composition, performance, installation, sound design and dramaturg, they are best known for their powerful acousmatic compositions of ‘startling, even hallucinatory, intensity’ (New Zealand Listener 2012). Their primary tool is the sampler, transforming sounds from instruments, played found objects, field-recordings and voice into surreal, abstract and disquieting sonic provocations. Drawing upon their own lived experience of mental illness and trauma, their uncompromising artist voice reveals ‘just how personal laptop music can be’ (Resonate Magazine 2014). Soddell’s most recent CD and book release, Love Songs (2018), has been praised for its ‘innovative approach to form’ (Fluid Radio 2018) and ‘fearless conceptual framework’ (Self-Titled Magazine 2018), and its launch won the 2019 Green Room Award for Contemporary Sound Performance. Soddell is a non-binary, European descendant living on unceded Dja Dja Wurrung land.