The sobriquet “waterhouse” implies Pre-Raphaelite painting — mythological or Arthurian iconography — those large canvas works depicting lavish, Quatroccentro ripples of fabric, melted wax, and pearl-inlays draped over classical poses both stunning and blasphemous. A rare melancholy exists in these works, as the paintings’ subjects often lean forlorn against opulent objects painted in the most painstakingly mundane manner. Their tranquil expressions render the most catastrophically holy relics as mere silverware — a Nation’s wealth as a bag of loose coins — or the blood of Christ gently spilt from a vile, lapped up by a house cat.
The suspended sadness of classical representation echoes throughout the work of Melbourne producer/vocalist waterhouse — an artist who explores strands of new-club-romanticism interacting complexly with contemporary anguish. Her tense, ornamented compositions softly evoke spaces somewhere between the serene-chic haze of an isolated bedroom, or large, episodic caverns filled with pastel-colored smoke.
“Empty Gallery” is the title track from waterhouse’s Empty Gallery EP, the second release coming from dance floor focused vinyl and digital label DECISIONS. It’s a stunning track blending loose change and a gentle tabla bounce rumbling somberly under rising strings and broad reverb; the piece’s regal ambience sketches out the outermost reaches of a mosaic-dream, a mind-space-structure revealing itself in vast, dramatic movements. Suddenly, a voice slakes the entire watery ambience down in one desirous gasp — strangely, gorgeously.
Experience the dream as a fragment below and await the full Empty Gallery EP arriving on vinyl and digital on March 11th. Spanning three years of waterhouse productions (2013-2015), the EP is, as DECISIONS describes it, “as much primed for deep listening at home as it is for the more intimately challenging moments of a DJ set.” Also look back on waterhouse’s iconic “waterhouse at the Little Girls Orchestra” mixfile released last year.
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