Hypnogogia
with Jeff Brennan & Trash Madonna
Hypnogogia is a Perth based band formed in early 2006. The name Hypnogogia (pronounced as pretentiously as possible) is derived from the vivid, dream-like auditory and visual hallucinations that can occur in the moments between waking and sleep.
Hypnogogia’s music is an aural reflection of the human condition, moving by turns from stormy and reckless to the yearning or carnivale, it traverses effortlessly between tales of lost love and the experience of waking from a cryonic sleep to find you are spiralling towards a sun. The songs begin in the waking dreams and nightmares of the band’s members, who each add their translation to the mix.
Once described as psychedelic chamber music, Hypnogogia would fit perfectly into a music festival with Radiohead, Air, Institut Polaire and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.
The three founding members are responsible in equal measure for the direction of their sound, which is why it is so diverse. Matt, Michelle and Aaron have all been driven to purchase and learn a new instrument simply to make the music sound the way their mind tells them it should. For all the members, music is life. For Matt, it is like oxygen; minutes without music and he starts to waste away, he does not view it as a talent, it is a lifeline. By contrast, Michelle carries music inside her; she is happy to allow it to nourish her in whatever form she encounters it, but she is the most powerful channel; for when the muse speaks, Michelle is compelled to obey. Aaron is the bard of the group, revealing his romantic soul to those who can hear, through his songs, despite all else. Grant is the newest addition to the group after some false starts with other drummers. He has a love of backbeats, a diverse taste in music, and has given the band a rockier edge.
Hypnogogia began from the humblest of beginnings; a penchant for mind alteration, skill with a bass, and boredom on a Tuesday night. With no effort, and in no time, a band was formed. With considerably more effort, an ensemble brave enough to play live was hammered together with off-cuts and blu-tack and no one really knows if it will hold, but everyone who hears them play adds a little bit of glue.
Members: Matt Romaro, Michelle James, Aaron Silver and Grant MacLeod
