After downscaling the winter festival in 2024 due to rising costs and changing conditions to allow for a “period of renewal”; as well as the resignation of legendary long-time artistic director Leigh Carmichael. Dark Mofo's new artistic director Chris Twite, and the incredible organisation have provided the ‘Anodyne’ to reinvigorate the festival’s devotees with one of the most monumental line-ups ever announced in the sensational spectacle’s 12-year history!
In the title and the opening paragraph of this article alone, two giveaways may have been discovered on some of the featured headliners; ‘Magic Doors’ being a cherished single from trip-hop royalty Portishead. Beth Gibbons, the angelic vocalist and lyricist of the outfit, will be making her highly anticipated solitary Australian premiere tour in support of her critically acclaimed solo debut album Lives Outgrown. ‘Anodyne’ (another word for “medicine”) is the sixth track featured on the most recent full-length Stone released in 2023 of the much-adored Georgia’s prog-metal outfit Baroness. The Grammy-nominated quartet are appearing at Dark Mofo for an exclusive fly-in date.
The Odeon Theatre will be hosting a dazzling array of acts from throughout the world of sounds and geography. On the sixth of June, Great Britain’s enchanting Rival Consoles will be mystifying spectators with their electro-ambience, which later that very night shall be transformed into charismatic craziness with USA’s jazz-metal maniacs Clown Core. LA’s Jessica Pratt will be tantalising the audience with her “Freak Folk” reminiscent of the greats like Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell on the seventh that is then followed by American Nightmare’s Wesley Eisold and his wondrous darkwave project Cold Cave. Just after the brilliantly boundless Baroness, Philly’s astonishing R&B rapper Tierra Whack will be spellbinding festival-goers in another Australian exclusive.
The annual Hymns To The Dead showcase on the 11th of June will delightfully devastate metal enthusiasts of the elongated event featuring: New York’s Imperial Triumphant shall bewilder their onlookers with their blasphemous ExperiMetal. Washington’s Hulder will live up to the festival’s motto with her Dark Medieval Black Metal; Canada’s Spectral Wound should create a cacophonous towering avalanche of melancholic black metal that ought to be further shattered by Great Britain’s swamp death metallers Slimelord.
Both Brooklyn lush indie-rockers DIIV and gothic electropunks The Horrors are altering the soundscape of the Odeon in separate shows hosting immeasurable levels of charisma on the 12th. On the lucky 13th, art-punkers Crime & The City Solution then Ecclesiastical hardcore NYC trio Show Me The Body will electrify their audiences with their own unique exhilarating exhibitions. On the 14th the UK’s spectacular saxophonist and poet Alabaster Plume shall warm up the onlookers in warm waves of wondrous woodwind before the heroic digital hardcore hysteria of Long Island’s Machine Girl showcase their amazing assault afterwards.
A very special BORDERLANDS event will take place on Sunday the 15th June with Lisa Gerrard + Cye Wood + William Barton (a Kalkadunga man and multi-instrumentalist known for playing the yidaki with classical orchestras) exhibiting their debut LP Under In Between: a sonic journey that resonates through blood, flesh, and bone. Supported by France’s Félicia Atkinson who creates Electro-acoustic collages interweaved with outdoor recordings and layered instrumentation, as well as Hand to Earth, a fusion of the ancient and contemporary music and energy woven from the Manikay—ancestral songs in the first language of Wagiläk. Featuring enchanting artists Daniel Wilfred (Yolgnu songman), and Korean vocalist, Sunny Kim.
Savannah’s Boy Harsher shall close out the musical festivities at the Odeon Theatre with their synthpop inspired by soundtrack work; the group have collaborated with previous Dark Mofo alumni Chelsea Wolfe and Zola Jesus.
ALTAR bar will host many phenomenal artists including: Chicago’s industrial existential rap duo Angry Blackmen (Australian exclusive), the already sold-out MONG TONG psychedelic folklore rockers from Taiwan supported by heavy psych rockers Earth Tongue from New Zealand. Thaiboy Digital from Thailand will be demonstrating his solo work from Drain Gang in an electro-rap grittiness with infectious melodies laced throughout.
USA’s Experimental pop and accidental tik-tok star LUCY (Cooper B. Handy) ought to enchantingly confuse his witnesses in this down under festival-only exposé. Naarm chaotic dance-punkers Gut Health have already sold out their showcase on the 11th of June at ALTAR; but the following night, Sweden’s death industrialist project Brighter Death Now with San Francisco’s experimendustrialist Evicshen (Victoria Shen) will rattle concert-goers to their core as an extremely worthwhile bonus.
Liverpool’s Forest Swords has also already sold-out his exhibition of cold world electronica on the 13th, as has Melbourne’s post-punk esteemed trio The Peep Tempel who are returning from a long hiatus on the 15th of June. Thankfully, the instrumental doom metal band featuring saxophonist and guitarist Takiaya Reed (of Tsalagi and African-American heritage) have available tickets for their exhibition of thought-provoking music "decolonising, decentralising, disestablishing, and destroying white supremacy."
Hobart not feeling like enough exploration? Both Methyl Ethel and Thelma Plum shall be livening up Launceston with their sonic synth art-rock and folk story telling respectively.
In the truest Dark Mofo traditions, there is so much more to experience including art and light displays of mind-altering illustriousness, residencies such as Karina Utomo (High Tension, Kilat, Rinuwat) with her free Mortal Voice demonstration at Basilica. Many films are being given special showing treatments; theatrical showcases run throughout the program, with dance production VOID from Belgium’s Joshua Serafin already selling out or fast in its four-show run.
Night Mass is back in full-flight and nearing impossible to access over the two available weekends (ticket availability is becoming extremely limited), and of course MONA will provide all its renowned outstanding artistic oddities.
Sound exhausting? Perhaps a rest in a Coffin Ride will help? Perhaps the Crash Body exhibition of stunt drivers executing a head-on collision will wake you up?
Or maybe the traditional Nude Solstice Swim on the 21st of June will revitalise you.
There is still so much more to experience and thankfully the Winter Feast is present to keep festival attendees fed, liquored and warmed through the wintery wonderland.
As former artistic director Leigh Carmichael eloquently stated in the 2023 programme:
“Come down, have a drink, it’ll be wild”.
Words by Will Oakeshott @teenwolfwill
Tickets available here: Dark Mofo
