OPEN UP
Bare feet follow sacred Songlines, footprints in the red dirt. Sweeping along the coastline, there lays a woman. She is the wind that sweeps the land and spreads the fire with her hand. Backlit as the sun goes down, she paints the colours of the clouds. Arms open wide. She’s a mother to her people, her voice sings out with every crashing wave, as time carves its imprint on natures stave. As brothers we walk, breathe in and become one with the fruits of her land, The Kimberley.
‘Open Up’ is a song about longing for connection to country and opening up to Indigenous culture. This song washed upon the shores of our creative consciences whilst in Western Australia and continued to find its stride on stages around the world. While our beliefs and respect for Australia’s Indigenous people and culture grew, so did the resonance of this song among our audience. Stepping over boundaries and surpassing all prejudice, before we knew it, a voice was found for a call to action as ‘open up’ gave us reason to fearlessly create.
In this video, we walk alongside three generations of true custodians. Men driven purely by what it means to embody our ancient land. We spent our days under old fig trees, sharing songs of country and culture. The magic lay in moments overflowing with bellowed laughter, to which we swam most afternoons with a full belly of fresh fish.
This video represents the beating heart of our inspiration to create as artists. On the road we are searching for connection. We search for resonance, where our words land upon the fields of open souls. We search for healthy conversation ripe for harvest. We search for motion to create songs that move. For what moves us, seems sure to move others.
We found love in the hearts of the Hunter family and we found mystic in the Dreamtime stories. We found importance in the lessons of the land and we found pride in the presence of our true custodians. We found solace in the red desert plains and most of all, we found meaning in our celebration of Indigenous culture. Our personal family heritage does not originally thread from this beautiful country though we consider ourselves home. For we have all been born upon this sacred ground, to which we call our connection our greatest inspiration and continue to love, nurture and respect.
As the sun dips its head below the horizon, we cradle our oyster cut feet and bury them deep below the cool undertow of the sand. It’s as if each days bliss lays still, hanging like a true-life painting. Glowing, our faces are blanched from the last remaining warmth of day. She gently pulls the sheet of night over our eyes. Punched holes of burning light, we gaze as the stars grow bright. Burnt driftwood sages our sun dried souls as the tears swell, the smoke being quick to blame. We lay til morning light.
We walked as brothers, we walked as students, we walked as children, and now we walk as ambassadors. For what was given to us, now resides in the bones of this song and in the foundations of our performance. For that we are truly grateful and proud to stand by our beliefs of the importance of Indigenous culture, giving it the celebration and respect it truly deserves.
