DISCOVERY ENGINE

Discovery Engine is an interdisciplinary performance ensemble led by composer Jack Prest, with a powerhouse line up of Brian Fuata, Marcus Whale, Freya Schack-Arnott and Benjamin Freeman. Focused on improvised musical and performance practice, Discovery Engine draws influences from the lineage of western music from early plain chant through to modern electronic and pop music. 

Jack, Ben and Freya lay the musical foundation for the group. Through live cello, piano, trumpet and electronics they create drone, ambient and experimental electronic music that builds to include experimental club music, jungle, footwork and 80’s power ballads. Brian and Marcus work both vocally and performatively, creating a dynamic layer of melodic and lyrical interventions, while activating the space with their distinct movement styles. 

The result is a transcendent and wild ride something akin to Sergio Leone’s Gruppo di Improvvisazione di Nuova Consonanza or a bizarre church ritual. The more traditional aspects of both live music and performance merge together forming a new type of experimental work that embraces a truly interdisciplinary practice.

Jack and the team have recently completed its first creative development supported by Create NSW and Phoenix Central Park. The work is produced by Intimate Spectacle. Below is an edited version of the full 55 minute performance. Please use headphones or a decent sound system when viewing this video, this performance work is driven/led by the music which will be difficult to fully appreciate via laptop or low quality audio playback devices.

Discovery Engine is looking for performance opportunities in contemporary and art music contexts, as they continue to develop the work towards a more theatrical interdisciplinary performance.

Jack’s vision for the theatrical performance is a veritable cornucopia of experimental styles, a work one part dada happening, one part plagal mass, one part Las Vegas spectacular. Jack is currently referring to this theatrical event as Discovery Engine On Ice.