AZ20, a celebration of 20 years of RTR FM’s Ambient Zone show happens this Sunday, September 21, from 6-10pm at The Bird with Furchick, Sacred Flower Union, Craig McElhinney and Strasarbs. We check in with Sacred Flower Union.
Dan Griffin, aka Sacred Flower Union has put out lots of music in the last two years. As in, lots.
“I have a large volume of music because I follow quite a stream of consciousness approach, so I am always putting out or playing with concepts,” he says. “Most of the run-times are quite short and the type of music lends itself well to this approach. I’m really following the footsteps of people like Sun Araw and Mark McGuire and labels like Preservation and Not Not Fun.
“That said I haven’t really released or recorded anything ‘properly’ these are more constant stream of lo-fi efforts adding to a larger collage of sounds.”
Afternoon Reflectors, the most recent Sacred Flower Union release was launched last month to enthusiastic response. Griffin has found it…
“Extremely overwhelming – a lot of people have said really nice things and I didn’t think anyone would be that into it!”
However, Sacred Flower Union on ‘tape’ and what it becomes live are two separate points on the map.
“Recording Sacred Flower Union is allowed to be as abstract or experimental as possible, there are no boundaries and I like to try and have a lot of variety that you might not get in a 30 minute set,” Griffin explains. “It’s about the listening experience.
“Playing live Sacred Flower Union is less about ambience and experimentation and more about dance party sounds. I guess you could say the live show cuts through the treacle and is a bit of a party, whereas the recordings embrace exploring a time or space and sit in that ambience.”
Griffin has a slew of gigs coming up over the next few months, as well as a workshop at Camp Doogs and some possible summer touring. In the meantime he’s pretty stoked to be playing the AZ20 celebration.
“RTR parties are always the best,” he says. “Hands down. Can’t wait!”
Tickets for AZ20 are $10 (subscribers) and $15 (general) from rtrfm.com.au or on the door. Ambient Zone airs every Sunday from 7-9pm.
Sacred Flower Union – Pic: Stefan Caramia
