Ethereal electro-medieval band Dandelion Wine are heading to Maldon for an exclusive acoustic performance in the town’s Progress Hall as part of this weekend’s inaugural Goldfields Gothic Festival Of Dark Ideas.
In their first live performance in a year, this Melbourne-based outfit are making their first-ever trip to Maldon for a special all-acoustic performance.
Dandelion Wine have spent the better part of the last two decades touring Europe, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong, as well as repeat appearances at some of Europe’s top festivals, including Germany’s Festival Medieval, which is acknowledged as the worlds’ largest festival of medieval-inspired music.
They’ve also won plenty of fans at Germany’s Wave Gotik Treffen, which is noted as the world’s largest goth and darkwave festival, and at Lithuania’s Menuo Juodaragis, which is a Baltic pagan festival.
After three albums on the renowned German label Ars Musica Diffundére/Black Rain, they recently released their latest album Le Cœur independently.
This weekend’s inaugural Goldfields Gothic is a weekend of events themed around celebrating the dark side of the goldfields,” the new event’s Michelle Dorian has told the Mail.
“As well as brave and determined miners, from the 1850s onwards the Victorian goldfields were home to spiritualists, secret societies, bushrangers, ghost-hoaxers and murderers,” she said.
“Inspired by these intriguing stories of the past, we are showcasing the dark side of the goldfields in all its gruesome glory.”
The festival takes place from today through to Sunday, transforming various venues around Maldon.
For those who do seize this unique local chance to sample a sip of Dandelion Wine’s music, it combines the ancient sounds of lute, hammered dulcimer and bell cittern, with Naomi Henderson’s ethereal vocals, haunting cello and the exotic sounds of percussion such as udu, tombak and the Persian tar.
While they normally feature swirling clouds of textured guitars and electronic beats, for this performance they will be performing in acoustic mode without the trappings of the 21st century in the beautiful surrounds of the Maldon Progress Hall.