Events Calendar

Enter an iconic scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey (and snap the perfect picture).

Immerse yourself in “The Barmecide Feast,” a fully realized, full-scale reflection of the iconic, neo-classical hotel room from the penultimate scene of Stanley Kubrick’s and Arthur C. Clarke’s landmark film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This temporary exhibit is the centerpiece of the Museum’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Access to the installation is free, but timed tickets are required. Open now through May 28th!

The martyred heroine of France fought and defeated the English at Orleans, was captured and taken prisoner in Burgundy, put on trial and burned at the stake—all by the age of 19. Depicted as neither witch, saint, nor madwoman in Shaw’s compelling story—Joan of Arc is but an illiterate farm girl whose focus on the individual rocks the church and state. Led by director Eric Tucker (Sense and Sensibility), four actors perform over twenty-five roles in Bedlam’s riveting, stripped-down production, declared as “Irresistible!” and “a force of nature” by The New York Times (Best of Theater, 2014) and a Top Ten Play by Time Magazine.

“A RARE AND RICH TREAT…A PRODUCTION TO BE TREASURED”
– THE NEW YORK TIMES

Seating for Saint Joan includes additional seating on stage. Please see the seating chart for locations.

“The title Soft Sounds From Another Planet alludes to the promise of something that may or may not be there. Like a hope in something more. The songs are about human resilience and the strength it takes to claw out of the darkest of spaces.”

Michelle Zauner wrote the debut Japanese Breakfast album in the weeks after her mother died of cancer, thinking she would quit music entirely once it was done. That wasn’t the case. When Psychopomp was released to acclaim in 2016, she was forced to confront her grief. Zauner would find find herself reliving traumatic memories multiple times a day during interviews, trying to remain composed while discussing the most painful experience of her life. Her sophomore album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, is a transmutation of mourning, a reflection that turns back on the cosmos in search of healing.

“I want to be a woman of regimen,” Zauner sings over a burbling synth on the album’s opening track “Diving Woman.” This serves as Zauner’s mission statement: stick to the routine lest you get derailed, don’t cling to the past, don’t descend. In fact, ascend to the stars; Zauner found artistic solace removed from Earth, in outer space and science fiction. “I used the theme as a means to disassociate from trauma,” she explains. “Space used as a place of fantasy.”

And yet, Soft Sounds From Another Planet isn’t a concept album. Over the course of 12 tracks, Zauner explores an expansive thematic universe, a cohesive outpouring of unlike parts structured to create a galaxy of her own design. In the instrumental “Planetary Ambience,” synths communicate the way extraterrestrials might, and on the shapeshifting single “Machinist,” which Zauner has been performing live for over a year now, she details the sci-fi narrative of a woman falling in love with a machine. “It’s pure fiction,” she explains, “But it can map onto real relationships in a relevant way.” The track, which begins with spoken-word ambience, moves into autotune ‘80s pop bliss and ends with a sultry saxophone solo, perfectly marries the experience: there’s a perceptible humanity in mechanical, bodily events.

Within its astral production, much of Soft Sounds From Another Planet stays grounded. “Road Head” is the last chest compression in attempt to resuscitate a doomed relationship, while the penultimate track “This House” is an acoustic dirge that honors Zauner’s chosen family. The baroque pop “Boyish” has a haunting, crystalline clarity that recalls the pathos of a Roy Orbison ballad, while “Body is a Blade” embraces the dark intimacy of Zauner’s Pacific Northwest heroes Elliott Smith and Mount Eerie.
With help from co-producer Craig Hendrix (who also co-produced Little Big League’s debut) and Jorge Elbrecht, (Ariel Pink, Tamaryn) who mixed the album, Zauner recontextualizes her bedroom pop beginnings, expanding and maturing her sound. The sheer massiveness of the big room production on Soft Sounds From Another Planet introduces listeners to a new Japanese Breakfast. Zauner’s familiar, capacious voice will serve as their guide.

“Your body is a blade that moves while your brain is writhing,” she sings. “Knuckled under pain you mourn but your blood is flowing.” There’s discernible pain in the phrasing, Zauner recognizing limitation, a lack of control, but then subverting the feeling, creating her own musical language for confronting trauma. Where Psychopomp introduced the world to Japanese Breakfast, Soft Sounds dives deeper. It builds space where there is none, and suggests that in the face of tragedy, we find ways to keep on living.

Give the people what they want.

Having scaled the heights of sell-out orchestral headline shows, ARIA awards and international festival stages, Flight Facilities are going back to what it’s all really about; the songs. In 2018, fans can can expect a renaissance of the band’s beloved singles run, a format that seems as much a return to form as a new chapter for Sydney duo Jimmy Lyell and Hugo Gruzman.
“We’re at what feels like a real turning point in our career, says Lyell. “Our lives as individuals are changing and so too is our vision for the band.” It’s this vision which has already seen the release of two breakaway singles that have pushed at the edges of the band’s sound. Most recently, ‘Stranded’ pulled together a diverse range of artists, from concert pianist Piers Lane to Warpaint drummer Stella Mozgawa and previous collaborator, Reggie Watts.

In a brave new world where chart-toppers are increasingly defined algorithmically and playlists are king, Flight Facilities have made an art form out of reinvention. The pair has spent the majority of their careers bucking trends in electronic music, consistently and reliably favouring the timelessness of a well-crafted song. Having racked up over half a billion streams globally, it’s clearly an approach that works.

This attitude has turned some of Flight Facilities’ more unlikely singles into their biggest hits, like the shimmering disco of ‘Foreign Language’ or the symphonic ‘Clair De Lune’. “I’ve always grappled with people saying ‘That’s such a Flight Facilities song’. What the fuck does that mean? I have no idea what we sound like,” laughs Gruzman.

Flight Facilities’ extensive remix catalogue, both for other artists (Miike Snow, Bag Raiders and Cut Copy, to name but a few) and of their own material (Snakehips, Lido, Joe Goddard) also continues to showcase the breadth of their influence. They’re certainly not a band to be defined by format.

A slew of new singles allows this relentlessly creative duo more chances to challenge their own expectations, something which forms the basis of how they operate. “Jimmy gets frustrated because I always look for a thousand possibilities on a sound,” says Gruzman. “Even if we find one straight away that’s good, I’ll keep going. Every ‘No’ counts as a ‘Yes’, because you’re eliminating those possibilities. I hate wondering.”

The turn back to singles also offers more room to collaborate with the emerging and legendary voices that have come to mark the band’s aesthetic. From Emma Louise to Broods, Kylie and Katie Noonan, Flight Facilities have a knack for picking vocalists that feel more like friends than features. Expect some instrumental numbers too, returning to the wide-eyed naivety that first brought the two together. Or as Jimmy puts it: “We want to make a statement one day and write a pop song the next.”

These are uncertain times but one thing is assured; Flight Facilities have plenty more gas in the tank. The only question now is which direction they go next. You’ve heard the band drop singles before, but never quite as excitedly as this. “Being able to laugh at yourself is the most important thing,” says Gruzman “If you believe in yourself to do the more important pieces, you should have the integrity to also go out and do something fun and stupid.”

The martyred heroine of France fought and defeated the English at Orleans, was captured and taken prisoner in Burgundy, put on trial and burned at the stake—all by the age of 19. Depicted as neither witch, saint, nor madwoman in George Bernard Shaw’s compelling story—Joan of Arc is but an illiterate farm girl whose focus on the individual rocks the church and state. Led by director Eric Tucker (Sense and Sensibility), four actors perform over twenty-five roles in Bedlam’s riveting, stripped-down production, declared as “Irresistible!” and “a force of nature” by The New York Times (Best of Theater, 2014) and a Top Ten Play by Time Magazine.

“A RARE AND RICH TREAT…A PRODUCTION TO BE TREASURED”
– THE NEW YORK TIMES

Seating for Saint Joan includes additional seating on stage. Please see the seating chart for locations.