Photograph of Timothy Fairless exhaling underwater.

Timothy Fairless is a music-maker and video artist from Meanjin/Brisbane. Through sound and multimedia installations, album recordings, performances, and music for moving image his work engages with intersections of place, history and queerness.

Timothy has produced music and sound for film, television and theatre. This includes works with director Douglas Watkin featured at the Adelaide Biennial, multiple shows with Australian photographer William Yang at the QLD Art Gallery, RMIT Melbourne and the Seymour Centre Sydney, soundtracks for award winning short films, and a score for Our Stories on NITV. His video and installations have been exhibited in Australia and Thailand, and he has performed across Australia and in Hong Kong.

Timothy's solo recordings have been released by Unperceived Records (Berlin) and Flaming Pines (London).

Photograph by Robert Braiden

Photograph of Timothy Fairless performing live music. Shot from the side, it shows the performer and a laptop computer adorned with stickers from a cafe called Mum's Not Home. In the background is a decorative kick drum, not used for performance.
RECENT: October 2023

Other Worlds Hong Kong

I had the absolute pleasure to perform at an ambient and experimental showcase, Other Worlds, in Hong Kong in late 2023 alongside achi, DJ Fab Sabs, Misty Penguin, and Casey Anderson. I played 2 songs with intrinsic connections to the city and my time in it. In particular, Hydrostasis, which features a granularised guzheng I recorded in hong Kong in 2019 mashed together (for this show) with a curious mix of Australian and Hong Kong field recordings.

Photograph by Fedor Yury

Photograph of Timothy Fairless performing live music. Shot from above, the photograph shows a laptop, a vintage electric piano, sound mixers, and microphones.
RECENT: June 2023

City Symphony

Live one-off performance, scoring the silent film "People on Sunday" as part of the City Symphony series at QAGOMA (Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art). The almost sold-out show featured more than an hour of new music.

Photograph by Mark du Potiers

Black and white photograph of Timothy Fairless performing live, using a violin bow on an acoustic guitar.
RECENT: February 2023

Gay Sydney: A Memoir

A theatrical score, performed live, for William Yang's Gay Sydney: A Memoir. This iteration was commissioned for Sydney World Pride. We played a run of 4 shows at the Seymour Centre to positive reviews.

Photograph by Bruce Baker

Photograph of Timothy Fairless performing live music. Shot from above, the photograph shows a laptop, a vintage electric piano, sound mixers, and microphones.
RECENT: August 2022

SUPERPOSITION

Following the release of Rising Water I performed the album twice at KEPK in Meanjin. The first show (pictured) was in-the-round and supported by Flora Wong and Lou Janssen. Sound was set from 4 channels in the corners of the room, and new album-themed animations were projected across the space so both audience and performer had the same experience. The second show was a visual treat, with the projectors split by a screen and a curved wall. The second show was with Mekema, Unregistered Master Builder, and Madeleine Cocolas.

Photograph by Thomas Oliver

Solo Music

Superposition

2023

Immersive and powerful live performance of Rising Water, recorded at KEPK, Brisbane. Be sure to check out the concert film.

Cover art by Timothy Fairless with inspiration from Cristopher Ahern

Rising Water

2022

Made about water, from water. Its terror, its patience, its ubiquity and scarcity. Released on Flaming Pines, London.

Cover art by Cristopher Ahern & Timothy Fairless

It's both the heat & the humidity

2022

Soundtrack to the exhibition. Queer identity & environment explored through treated field recordings, archival video and cassette recordings.

Cover art by Timothy Fairless

Common Electric Glare

2021

An album about diversion and distraction. Shedding reliance on familiar instrumentation, Common Electric Glare champions abstraction of tone & texture.

Cover art by Timothy Fairless

Split View

2021

5-song companion EP to Common Electric Glare re-imagines and reveals. Minimalism, sonic abstractions, and expansions on themes and ideas explored in the album.

Cover art by Timothy Fairless

Headwind

2020

Experiments in deep sampling of acoustic instruments, and adventurous manipulation of archival audio meets electric guitar and polyrhythms.

Cover art by Daniel Mayfield-Smith

POLLEN (KILLAWARRA)

2019

A composition for grand piano and violin maintaining the acoustic aesthetics of both instruments. Slight imperfections retained on the master convey honesty and authenticity.

Cover art by Mark du Potiers

Sum

2019

This final release in a triptych completes a 12 song cycle that includes Measurement (2012), and Plural (2015). Although abrupt and jarring in parts, it illuminates the space around the sound.

Cover art by Christopher Ahern

A Thin Black Line

2018

A Thin Black Line is the soundtrack album for the virtual reality experience of the same name. The score accompanies a charcoal depiction of the true story of a young girl and her family fleeing Darwin before the 1942 bombing.

Cover art by Vernon Ah Kee

Bias

2017

Bias is made of piano and processing. Performed elements were recorded without any 'traditional' playing of the instrument. Instead, the piano was stripped of non-structural outer panels and struck, plucked, and otherwise activated with a range of archaic implements.

Cover art by Mark du Potiers

Plural

2015

Flying birds are processed to become the haunting introduction to Fault Lines. Waves recorded just north of Byron Bay become the rattling, noise-laden foundation of Holograms (Y). Grand piano and violin are nestled amongst unrecognisable sonic mush harvested from Notre Dame on the heart-wrenchingly gorgeous Pollen.

Cover art by Christopher Ahern

Measurement

2014

This debut EP of 4 songs is where you should start. Crushed leaves are stretched to become the entire ambient wash on piano-based Lumen. The knock of a finger against a microphone is transformed into the cacophonous middle passage in Decibel. Electric piano and slide guitar sit amongst a cinematic soundscape made from unrecognisable household objects on Deep North.

Cover art by Christopher Ahern

Video, Performance Art, Sound Installation

You're Still Perfect

2022-2024

Sound & video work premiered at QCAD Galleries in the Not quite there show in 2022, and in 2024 at Logan Art Gallery with Connective Impulse. A piece expressing the relationship between the body and its environment.

It's both the heat & the humidity

2022

Solo exhibition at The Old Lock Up about queer identity & environment. The show had 2 video/audio works and a sculptural work, was extended by a SoundCloud playlist, performance & artist talk.

CATScan

2021

Experimental performance at the group exhibition, What Matters. The work combined processed pre-recorded vintage audio mined from digital reproductions of video and current audio submitted by audience members, responded to on piano and guitar.

REVIRGINATE

2021

Collaborative exhibition with Mark du Potiers, presented as MSTR. Featured 3 new video art pieces presented as immersive audio visual installations and 2 scultpural works, alongside print work and site specific installation by Mark du Potiers.

NO 4AM PHONE CALL FROM TOKYO

2020

Audiovisual installation first shown on the elevated warehouse screen at the Wide Open exhibition at KEPK Space in Brisbane.

RISING WATER

2019

Multi-channel audio installation as part of the You Can Lead a Horse to Water... exhibition at the Grey Street Gallery in Southbank, Brisbane. Made entirely from a glass of water, the work ran 4 discrete audio channels of differing lengths. Looped, these created an endlessly evolving soundscape.

RECUSE FOR MONO

2018

A generative and responsive sound installation presented at the collaborative exhibition, Don't Drink the Milk with visual artists Emmalyn Hawthorne and Aaron Perkins. Exploring language and communication, Recuse for Mono listened to the gallery space and processed the audio in a multitude of ways before playing the result back into the space.

Film, TV & Theatre Scores, Collaborations & Commissions

People on Sunday

2023

Live score for the silent film People on Sunday, as part of the Australian Cinemateque's City Symphony series at QAGOMA. Read the interview between curator Rosie Hays and myself here.

Gay Sydney: A Memoir

2023

A theatrical score, performed live, for William Yang's Gay Sydney: A Memoir. This iteration was commissioned for Sydney World Pride. We played a run of 4 shows at the Seymour Centre to positive reviews.

Photo by Meg Hewitt

Still Water

2021 - 2022

An ongoing collaboration with Henri van Noordenburg at the intersection of performance and the production of art, investigating the climate crisis.

More Info

I Am Home

2022

Soundtrack for Ali Choudhry's video, exploring what 'home' means and where it is. First exhibited at MARS Gallery (Naarm/Melbourne) in June 2022.

ROD & DAVE'S SUMMER PARTY

2020

Soundtrack accompaniment to William Yang's short video Rod & Dave's Summer Party. Presented as part of the major survey show William Yang: Seeing and Being Seen at the Queensland Art Gallery in 2021.

SILENCER

2019

An experimental soundtrack to the short film Silencer. The rhythm of a bouncing ball anchors the score, which features heavily processed noise and aggressive, evolving textures.

A THIN BLACK LINE

2017

Score for the virtual reality experience directed by Douglas Watkin. The work was commissioned by SBS/NITV, produced by VRTOV & Doublewire and premiered at the 2018 Adelaide Biennial of Art. The score is made from bowed acoustic guitar, kalimba, felt piano and violin.

CONTINUE TO DRIVE

2014

Commercial for BMW, with an electronic score made from sounds recorded from their cars and transformed into tuned and playable instruments.

BLACK BETTY

2013

Soundtrack to the short film about a single father learning how to step back to let his daughter grow up.

BOUNCER

2013

Soundtrack to the short film set outside a nightclub. The diegetic score drives the action and emotion while using only sub-120Hz frequencies.

THE HOUSEWIFE

2012

A short film about revenge and freedom. The gritty soundtrack holds the tension with hybrid acoustic/electronic elements, scultped noise, and treated foley recordings.

Actor Jamie Dunn in his role in the Short Film 'True Love'. In this image, he's set against a bright blue sky and menacingly points a pistol at the viewer.

TRUE LOVE

2011

Soundtrack to the award-winning short film about a killer seeking redemption when he intervenes in a woman burying her freshly-murdered partner.

Biography

Timothy Fairless is a composer and music-maker exploring the space where found sound and sonic manipulations intersect with familiar acoustics. As a composer, he engages schema-driven, conceptual methods. Timothy’s work is realised as sound installations, recordings, performances, and music for film.

Fairless' formative years were in regional areas. Growing up queer in the 90’s, difference and concealed identity set the foundation for a frame through which sound is interrogated as multi-layered, masked, and can simultaneously be more than one thing. Through experimental music and sound installation he explores themes of position and privilege, identity and isolation.

Solo work is published on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp and most other streaming services. Installation work has been exhibited at Webb Gallery. Grey Street Gallery, and KEPK in Meanjin/Brisbane. Timothy’s soundtrack and scores have been exhibited in the Adelaide Biennial of Art, at Queensland Art Gallery’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and appeared on broadcasts for SBS/NITV, in addition to independent release. He has performed live in venues across Brisbane, Hong Kong and at the Art Gallery of SA. As a panelist, he's discussed composition for film and virtual reality at the Byron Bay International Film Festival and at the QLD State Library, and talked about creativity and AI at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art. As a music producer, co-writer & collaborator he has worked with artists of many genres across Australia, and internationally in Hong Kong and Germany.

Timothy lives in Meanjin (Brisbane).

Selected Solo Works & Commissions

Year Description Medium
2024 Solidarity Soundwaves - 4000 Records Compilation
"You're Still Perfect" at Connective Impulse - Logan Art Gallery Video
2023 "Live Music & Film: People on Sunday" - Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Performance
William Yang's "Gay Sydney, A Memoir" - Seymour Centre, Sydney Performance
"Superposition" - Independent Release EP & Concert Film
"different (The Timothy Fairless Remix)" - Fedor Yury Remix
TONDI ( ) TONDO Exhibition Closing Party - KEPK, Brisbane Performance
Other Worlds - The Aftermath, Hong Kong Performance
24 Hour Drone Festival - KEPK, Brisbane Performance
2022 "Rising Water" - Flaming Pines, London Album
"It's both the heat & the humidity" - The Old Lock Up, Maroochydore Video & Sculpture
Yonder Festival - The Lost World Performance
"Fragile States" - New Weird Australia Compilation
"Still Water" with Henri van Noordenburg - Dogwood Crossing, Miles Performance
Sessions at the Shangri-la - Thirteenth Eye Productions Video
"Kelp Culture" group exhibition - Project Gallery, South Brisbane and Woodford Folk Festival, Woodfordia Sound Installation
"You're Still Perfect" Not Quite There group exhibition - Project Gallery, South Brisbane Video
"I Am Home" with Ali Choudhry - Incinerator Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne Soundtrack
2021 "No 4AM Phone Call From Tokyo" - Loei Art Festival, Loei Province Thailand Video
"Split View" - Independent Release EP
"Creative AI" - Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Panelist
"Common Electric Glare" - Independent Release Album
"WWWYAL" - A Country Practice Remix
Drone Festival - KEPK Space, Brisbane Longform Ambient Performance
Henri van Noordenburg's "Still Water" - Side Gallery, Red Hill Longform Ambient Performance
"CAT Scan" - What Matters Exhibition, KEPK Space, Brisbane Audiovisual Performance
William Yang's "In Search of Home" - Queensland Gallery of Modern Art Theatrical Score
William Yang's "Rod & Dave's Summer Party" - Seeing & Being Seen Exhibition, Queensland Art Gallery Soundtrack
"Revirginate" with Mark du Potiers, as MSTR - Webb Gallery South Brisbane Video & Sculpture
2020 "No 4AM Phone Call From Tokyo" - Wide Open Exhibition, KEPK Space Brisbane Video
"Platypus Corridor - Slow Motion Electrolocation" - Andrew Tuttle Remix
"Headwind" - Independent Release EP
"Waves at South Golden Beach" - Field Recordings Podcast Field Recording
2019 "Pollen (Killawarra)" - Independent release EP
"Sum" - Independent release EP
"Rising Water" - You Can Lead a Horse to Water Exhibition, Grey Street Gallery South Brisbane Sound Installation
"Silencer" - Cosmonaut Creative Media Film Score
William Yang's "Gay Sydney: A Memoir" - RMIT Melbourne Victoria Theatrical Score
"Made Today: Sound Composition for Film & Game" - State Library of Queensland Panelist
2018 Dead Air Festival - Backbone, East Brisbane Performance
"Co-Lab Create VR Symposium" - Byron Bay Film Festival, Byron Bay New South Wales Panelist
"Recuse for Mono" - Don't Drink the Milk Exhibition, Webb Gallery, South Brisbane Sound Installation
"A Thin Black Line" - Adelaide Biennial of Art, Art Gallery of South Australia Performance
2017 "Bias I/II/III" - Independent release EP
"A Thin Black Line" - VRTOV and SBS/NITV Australia VR Score
2016 "Fiona Wirrer George" - Double Wire and SBS/NITV Australia TV Doco Score
2015 "Plural" - Unperceived Records, Berlin, Germany EP
"Deploy Your Senses 2015" - Deploy Your Senses Label, Spain Compilation
"Eclosion" - Duskdarter Label, Brisbane Compilation
2014 "Measurement" - Independent release EP
"Continue to Drive - Music from a BMW" - BMW Australia TV Commercial
2013 "Black Betty" - Creative Carps Film Score
2013 "Bouncer" - Soap & Water Productions Film Score
2012 "The Housewife" - Retroset Films Film Score
2011 "True Love" - QPIX and Ignition Films Film Score
"[Robots] Never Die" - Rat vs. Possum Remix