GARRY WILLIAMS speaks with extraordinary vocalist and composer LISA GERRARD in the lead-up to her first-ever live performance in Brisbane.

Lisa Gerrard is an artist of single-minded determination. Having forged a unique path in the world of music first with the group Dead Can Dance, she has achieved worldwide acclaim with solo projects, further collaborations and film soundtracks, such as Whalerider, Gladiator and The Insider. And yet, her voice is probably more familiar to people than her name, even in her home country of Australia. After releasing albums for 20 years, she is about to embark on her first solo Australian tour, including a first-ever performance in Brisbane. I asked Lisa what prompted her to embark on a tour now, after all this time.

“Usually what we do is start in Ireland” Lisa explains, “Because all the musicians are based there, Brendan [from Dead Can Dance] is there. The last time Dead Can Dance toured we made up our minds that we were going to tour Australia and New Zealand, and we didn't get there, we couldn't get the budget to work. I thought this time what I'm going to do is start in Australia, and that way we can do the concerts here first, set up the rehearsal time here, and cut costs and that way to make it possible to do concerts in Australia before going over to Europe. I've wanted to play here for years.”

Lisa has two new albums on the shelves. One is a compilation of some of her best work from Dead Can Dance, other collaborations and film soundtracks called, simply, Lisa Gerrard. The other album is The Silver Tree, a characteristically ethereal and evocative new work, composed and performed entirely by Lisa herself. Often, Lisa works with a collaborator – her last two albums, Duality and Immortal Memory were collaborations with Pieter Bourke and Patrick Cassidy respectively. I wondered about the difference.

“No disrespect to these people – everyone who does this kind of work has to satisfy themselves, whether they're Kylie Minogue or whoever.”  For a moment I try to contemplate the names Lisa Gerrard and Kylie Minogue existing in the same dimension.  “But I write my own music” Lisa continues.  “Other people whose records come out in their own name have music written for them.  And I like to acknowledge the people that I've worked with during the project while I've written the music. But if someone like Madonna or Kylie worked with their producer or whoever, they only promote the 'personality'.  I'm not into that, I don't promote the personality.  I write the music, and if I work with someone, then I like to acknowledge them.”

Lisa is particularly renowned for her film music.  She has created soundtracks from the ground up like Whalerider, while at other times filmmakers have incorporated her songs into films to devastating effect, such as with The Host Of Seraphim in the movie Baraka, and Sacrifice, from Michael Mann's The Insider (both of which appear on the Lisa Gerrard compilation).  How does Lisa approach the creation of film music?

“Oh, with trepidation and extreme anxiety. You have to feel like doing it. There is a thirst to find out what's going to happen, musically, independent of any expectations that might be placed on you as the composer from outside. The one pure and true and poetic luxury that we have is that there are times when you can simply write, and I have a relationship with music where it walks in front of me, and I am a servant of it.  Sometimes I look at some of the work that music is called to, and if we've put materiality and promotion of the personality first, then it can become an enormous compromise and we can lose sight of the sensitive fabric that is the centre. If you pour petrol into a pond, it will kill everything living in it, and it's the same thing with the work. You must be very careful not to introduce properties into the centre of the work.”

“There is a lot of philosophy behind what I do”, Lisa admits.  “I'm 45 years old. I've been doing this since I was 11.  It's my life, who I am.  If you've made a choice like I've made, which is to open the pathway of the heart, then you must be in a place where you don't have to be tough. And it's not to say that you need to live in fairyland, it's only to say that you need to stay in contact with those sensibilities that exist within things other than human beings and materiality. I've often said to people, it's such a pity we don't have spirituality. We have religion, but we don't give ourselves time to daydream.”

I suggest to Lisa that religion and spirituality are very different things. “They have absolutely nothing in common. Religion is a political machine. But we must tread carefully. Those who, having been introduced to something that they saw the truth within, have found enlightenment – we can't dissolve their relationship with their spiritual dimension simply because we see that particular device as a political missile.”

So who will be accompanying her on stage for this tour?  “One gentleman Michael Edwards, who's based in London, is actually from Brisbane. He's an extremely talented musician, without whom I wouldn't even be considering doing this tour. There's John Bonner, who's worked with Dead Can Dance from the beginning, John's Irish. Then I have James Borr, who is a young engineer who will also have a creative input in the concerts.”

With over 20 years of recordings to choose from, I imagine that a lot of thought will go into the selection of material the group will play?  “I'm doing the things that seem to come naturally. The new one that's just come out, the 'Best Of' album, that's what this tour is about. The songs won't be that different, but they'll be live, so they'll have that other dimension. It's not entertainment, it's a place of refuge. I've often had people say to me, ‘Oh you're playing in this horrible place’ or ‘You're playing in this beautiful place’… you know, when the lights go out, they're all the same.”

Lisa Gerrard will be performing at QPAC’s Playhouse on  April 5 – Tickets available now through Qtix (Ph: 136 246, www.qtix.com.au).  The Silver Tree is out on Rubber/EMI Records and Lisa Gerrard through 4AD/Inertia.

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