Music Partnership
Bossa Nova
Around 2000 whilst working at an Art and Craft store, I saw a pamphlet for Monash University short courses. There it was, I couldn’t believe it…a course on bossa nova guitar! Growing up listening and loving this genre, I always wanted to learn. My brothers were somewhat familiar in playing this style but it looked a bit hard for me back then, so here it was the sunlight to my heart’s flower. I signed up straight away. The first class had about 20 students, majority were male with hands fit for the 4 fret stretch jazz chords we were to learn. There were about 5 of us girls. By the next lesson there was a dramatic drop in attendance…crazy I was the only girl left. I was so committed to practicing the voicings to stretch my wee fingers and guess what, I did it. By the last few sessions it was just me and another guy. I was so grateful and will never forget my lessons with Luis from Brazil, I cherish my class handouts to this day. And so Paolita began writing her bossa nova songs! During this time, I bought an 8 track Tascam recording unit and recorded some demos, old school tape engineering!
Portal Window
In 2002 I returned to rnrhs this time as an adult to get piano and more drum lessons from Stephanie. She introduced me to Clare Chadderton, a then classically trained piano & uni student, who fronted her band Breakfast of Champions and also played bass in a metal band! My new music project was pOrtal windOw where I could explore my song writing in indie pop, bossa nova and instrumental themes. We played a lot of gigs around Melbourne, throughout this 12 year partnership including St Kilda Festival (2005, 2007), Finders Keepers Design Market(2010).
Recordings for my first EP ‘Curious’ (according to the liner notes) started late 2001- March 2003 in home studios with Joshua Whitehead (Crosstown Soundstudios). Niña Perdida, is the one I dig most out of the 5 songs, which introduces Clare via the violins. Released in 2003 or 2004, it was a taster of our ‘quirky’ (as some reviewed) style of pop, acoustic, bossa, dreamy sounds.
The first track Abstract was featured on mp3.com.au, an online music community for Independent and unsigned artists, it was Australia’s largest online download network, where artists share their music with a global audience. Abstract had a healthy number of streams, putting us on the mp3.com.au charts along with brother Arty del Rio, who also released songs around the same time. The song appeared on the mp3.com.au compilation with Planet X, called Discoveries in 2007. It was re-mastered by Don Bartley, the compilation featured music from up and coming unsigned artists and included a bonus dvd with 20 minutes of Planet X footage. Yep they slowed down Xtreme motorbike riding with our song overlayed….(not sure that we fit the bill on that one AND apparently we were the next big thing…in my room lol)
A couple of years later in 2005 I began recording songs for an album, in another home studio I set up. Most of that year was dedicated to recording, I travelled in 2006 and in the years following I continued recording and mixing the songs. In 2008 we released a single Autumn Calls from the album, released in October 2010. Nic Dalton from Half a Cow Records enjoyed our songs and some years after the release in 2015, the album A World for You and Autumn Calls EP was digitally distributed to various online platforms by Via Satellite / Half A Cow Records, who also gave a nice review of the EP when it was released.
The recordings I produced were home based studios. 2 Eps (Curious, 2004; Autumn Calls, 2008) and 1 album (A World For You, 2010). got on an mp3.com.au compilation, Discoveries and some years after the release in 2015, the album A World for You and Autumn Calls EP was digitally distributed to various online platforms by Via Satellite / Half A Cow Records, who also gave a nice lil review of the EP.
A film clip was made with my cousin Vanessa Aguilar for Autumn Calls, we had some tech problems after filming with one of the Super 8 cameras. The footage we took of our group looking fab in their Valerie and her Week of Wonders get up, was lost…how sad I was.
During overseas travels 2006, 2008, 2011 I would take my guitar and play open mics in Portland, New York, London, Berlin (with Clare). There is an ancient 3G quality recording of one of the performances in New York City, 2006 by Sanjay, one of the Americans in my Peruvian Inca trail hike group some months before. His email said I played 6 songs, a lot for an open mic, what can I say? the crowd wanted more :D, I remember now the host said ‘play another 3’, I recall one of them was Arty’s Chamomile Goodbye. In 2008 I arranged a gig at Stain Bar, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Dial-a-Diva
When I was in London, 2006 I attended some bars to play, as it happens I bumped into the same people. I met a lovely Scottish couple at two open mic nights at different bars. Chris and his then girlfriend Cat played their own lovely folk sets, we exchanged emails and kept in touch.
Later when I returned home Chris invited me to be part of a musical project by his friend sound designer Zoe Irvine. Dial-a Diva was 24 hour global telephonic concert in Stavanger, Norway 2007. The performers were broadcast using the telephone while listeners could tune in live by phoning a freephone number or going to join the online stream. The programme of performance went from New Zealand and the date line through Australasia, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas arriving back at the date line 24 hours later.
Checking old emails, reports I had a 15-minute time slot, I may have played about 3-5 songs from my travels and a few from the upcoming release. Songs may have included, Samba En La Tarde, Along the Canal, Lost in Time, Lonesome Clown, A World For You…all through a Telstra telephone landline to the globe! Zoe reported that they had over 2000 listeners and 36,000 hits to the website over the 24hrs. A 10 mins medley was made for New Media Scotland and I made the cut with others on the compilation:
In order of appearance: Semuin – Germany; Aisling Docherty – N. Ireland; Paola del Rio – Australia; Sty-Lo – Ivory Coast; Security Guard – Burundi; Barmmy Boy – Sierra Leone; Berglind Agustsdottir – Iceland; MC Boikutt – Palestine; FS Blumm – Germany; Miles Lang – UK; Razvigore – Serbia
“cds sent to Half A Cow that impressed us…”
The title Autumn Calls is deceptive, as this 4 track EP from Melbourne duo Portal Window is perfect Spring music that will take you right through to the end of Summer with its light and breezy collection of 60s cocktail party confections.
Paola del Rio and Clare Chadderton are the two melancholic maidens behind Portal Window and have been playing together since 2002. Paola also plays with her brother Arturo in Rio de Melodie who specialise in a variety of Latin American, Mexican and Spanish music inspired by their Peruvian background.
You can hear that influence in the songs on this Portal Window cd, especially the title track with its bossa nova rhythm (or is it a samba? who cares! pour me another Tequila Gilberto!) and the sweetest set of female vocals you’re likely to hear in this (other) southern land. There doesn’t seem to be a chorus, not that it matters, as the whole song is full of catchy melodies and words you’ll have memorised in no time.
‘Because’, a fantastic cover version of a 1964 Dave Clarke Five song follows, which, if you didn’t know your 60s platters, you’d swear was a Lennon-McCartney number. The arrangement is pretty similar to the DC5 but is given the ‘light and breezy’ Portal Window treatment.
All songs were recorded, produced and mixed by Portal Window and they even mention on the sleeve which Melbourne suburbs they were recorded in – Elwood, Cheltenham, Fitzroy and Chadstone. Now that’s a lot of share house moving around!
Portal Window plan to release an album, A World For You later this year. Something I’ll be tracking down for sure. – ND – Half A Cow records website
