Sydney-based musician Montaigne has promised the audience big singing and a big performance as they make their Festival of Voices debut on Saturday, 6 July.
At a glance
- Singer, songwriter, producer and storyteller Montaigne will make their Festival of Voices debut on 6 July.
- In 2022, Montaigne released their third album, "making it!", featuring the eclectic single Always Be You, created in collaboration with David Byrne of Talking Heads.
- The Festival of Voices is proudly supported by the City of Hobart through an events grant.
The singer, songwriter, producer and storyteller who has represented Australia at the Eurovision song contest and collaborated with the likes of Talking Head’s David Byrne and the Hilltop Hoods, will be one of the must-see acts at this year's Festival of Voices, which runs from 28 June to 7 July.
They said the audience would get some “very big singing” from their one-night show.
“My songs all require a lot of me, and I feel like I rise to the occasion,” Montaigne said.
“I move around a lot on stage generally. I'm a very active performer, you know, very engaged with the audience and with the songs and with the stage.
“And they will get some stories as well.
“I like to talk a lot on the stage and just tell people about what songs are about or what I've been thinking about lately in regard to the music and so definitely expect some of that.”
Given they are just one of many of the acts across the festival, Montaigne hopes to connect with a new audience.
“With festivals you tend to draw audiences that aren't necessarily your own,” they said.
“It's people who just want to see what's on and try something new, so it's an opportunity to pick up new fans I guess and to try to wow a new crowd.
“The show becomes very interesting because you do still have your own fans there and so you have to sort of appeal to both sides by maybe playing some deeper cuts and playing songs that you know people who love your work might belong to here but then you also sort of got to play the hits as well.
“This is also a great opportunity to play in Hobart because I haven't played there in a very long time.
“I can't really remember the last time I played in Hobart so I'm really looking forward to that, especially at the Odeon.
“I haven't played headline there before so that's going to be really cool for me.”
Montaigne first shot to prominence through Triple J’s Unearthed competition and then with their selection to represent Australia at the 2020 Eurovision with their song Don’t Break Me.
But the event holds mixed emotions for Montaigne.
The 2020 event was cancelled due to Covid and then when they did get to represent Australia the following year, this time with Technicolour, Montaigne had to do a pre-recorded live-on-tape performance as Australian broadcaster SBS decided it would not send a delegation to host city Rotterdam after completing a risk assessment.
Yet, Montaigne still made it to the semi-finals of the coveted competition despite being the only artist never to perform in the host city in Eurovision history, underlying their song writing and performance skills.
“It's very bittersweet,” Montaigne said of her Eurovision experience.
“I think my perspective of it is I just didn't really get to do it if you know what I mean?
“I didn't get to go to Europe and be on the big stage – I’m the only one who's ever not done that.
“So that's kind of a lonely feeling.
“But also, it is cool to be able to say that I was going to participate, and I got to produce two interesting pop songs for the contest.
“I think my other perspective on those songs is that I was really sort of finding myself at that time in my life.
“I think it was an opportunity for me to explore and experiment with what I wanted to present on stage, but to an audience of like millions.
“And I think that was a bit challenging and it's interesting because now I think I would make completely different choices about what to do on stage, aesthetically and sonically.
“But, you know, you can only work with what you have at the time, so who cares?”
The Festival of Voices is proudly supported by the City of Hobart through an events grant.
Montaigne will be performing at the Odeon on Saturday 6 July.
For tickets and more information, visit the Festival of Voices website.