The Omega Point (Interview with Alexandra Moon)
The Omega Point – Interview with Alexandra Moon (by Al Ballentyne)
I had heard of The Omega Point through friends, they are an ‘audio visual dream’ concocted by Melbourne based Mexican/Australian duo Paul del Sol and Alexandra Moon. Sol and Moon see the artist’s role as helping humanity to heal the alienation of modern life. They fuse myth making, video, design, theatre and sometimes ecstatic, often haunting dream pop to make their multimedia medicine.
Moon is a surrealist and multidisciplinary creative, who studies art at COFA, Sydney and theatre at The European Theatre Institute in Berlin. A self-taught director and electronic musician and producer she was accustomed to the theatre stage, but it took joining forces with Paul del Sol to bring her electronic compositions out from behind the bedroom door.
Sol is a multi-instrumental musician, producer and member of Modern Vice in Mexico, a band formed with his best friends who he had played music with since the age of ten, that went on to share Festival stages with the likes of Jessy Lanza (Canada), Porter (Mexico) and Devendra Banhart (USA) . Moon first met Sol only half an hour after arriving in New York, on a four day jaunt where she let her tarot cards dictate her itinerary. With no intention to meet him again, she serendipitously bumped into him in Central Park two days later.
It was these moments, along with other yet stranger happenings, that led del Sol and Moon to believe their creative connection was written in the stars (as well as their names). The rapid evolution of The Omega Project was made possible by their relocation to Australia in late 2018, Sol from Mexico, and Moon returning after many years living in Berlin and London.
I thought this all sounded pretty interesting and with their first single ‘Funky Funky Licky Licky‘ being released on March 1st, it would be cool to chat about it. I don’t feel we explore the connectivity of our world enough so I spoke with Alexandra Moon (one half of the duo) in Australia while being sat in Tottenham to understand more about what are the motivations behind their music.
Al Ballentyne: hello!
Alexandra Moon: Hello Al! Glad to be doing this interview with you
AB: How are you? Tell me a little bit about the project in your own words? What inspired you to start it and what is it you guys strive to express?
AM: I’m in a little happiness vortex here downunder. Music meets mysticism – multi-media spells. I’ve always wanted to bring my diverse obsessions together- electronic music, psychedelic rock, theatre, painting, performing with masks, video making, group creative collaborations.
AB: In terms of music meeting mysticism in multi media, what attracted you to that angle? Is it personal interest? Some sort of revelation to share esoteric ideas or under representation in today’s musical output?
AM: The artists I admire most include Laurie Anderson and Meredith Monk who fuse many of these elements together- I often wonder about their path to bring their different medias together in a concise and awe inspiring way. I also practiced magic myself, particularly Psychomagic. One day I came across a book called ‘Arcana V: Musicians on Music, Magic & Mysticism’.Best book i’ve ever come across!
AB: Can you explain a little about psycho magic?
AM: Psychomagic was a term coined by Alejando Jordorowsky (also one of my biggest influences) and basically it says you can induce psychological change (or healing) through intention and action. It’s quite logical, at least at that level. Though some of the Psychomagic spells he proposes are pretty damn abstract you can make your own as suits you.
AB: So, in terms of the resonance of your musical works you aim to harmonise with that energy of intention?
AM: Often the videos and performances I make are Psychomagic spells with an intention for transformation for myself, my collaborators or the audience who views it.
AB: So the spell is in the act essentially?
AM: The act of doing, intention and act. Intention leading to action.
AB: Intentions are key. Otherwise it’s hollow and doesn’t get past the bouncer!
AM: Haha yes and the more you purify your mind from the bullshit and distractions the more pure and effective your intention- sharp as an arrow.I ‘m not there but that’s what I’ve heard and what I imagine.
AB: In terms of that would you say it is a fair statement that expressive art can be an avatar of realisation to cross the boundary into our realm of conscious awareness? By realisation I mean that energy some may refer to as a higher being or god
AM: Absolutely! That’s why we come back to it again and again. That’s why we enjoy going to galleries etc or to tap into the collective unconscious
AB: There is a certain ‘morphic’ resonance to artistic works of value.
AM: Still something within us and bigger than ourselves like what Van Gogh was feeling – you feel like you can pick it up from one of his paintings – and that’s the feeling of anyone whose felt wrong and depressed ever in history
AB: So in terms of where your work sits, it’s mission, do you feel that a lot of works now tend to be for the sake of the work rather than the sake of the message, putting the practitioner before the idea, the furthering of self rather than seeking to transcend the boundaries of the self and reaching greater interconnectivity among all beings?
AM: Yes— even with the intention to put the message before the ego as an artist I suppose you are always walking on the edge and have to constantly check yourself to stay true to your intention-
AB: I suppose that depends on how you see yourself as an artist, is it you the person and sum of your experiences or is it that but taken as the colour pallet for the expression of the work
AM: it’s the colour palette – for me at least
AB: I agree (as an artist)
AM: I admire artists who seem to put their whole person inside the work- like Aldous Harding- I feel she does that- I would love to get there but i’m still working on it. I feel Laurie Anderson never did that though and she is my all-time fave artist. I mean ‘them and the sum of their experiences’
AB: How would you say this approach transmits to the audience when attending shows and the listener on their own time? RE your music
AM: I often speak collectively and not too much about my personal feelings— I talk about generalised anxiety as an expression of my own. The anxiety of the collective unconscious and things like that.
AB: Do you live with anxiety?
AM: I have had it for most of my life since i was a teenager but in the last year I found ways to manage it just in the last year
AB: I was diagnosed a couple years back but then I had wondered is what if that is actually a gift of hyperawareness that is being called anxiety as rather than trying to suppress it it makes more sense to view it as an energy stream that flows through us. It seems many creative folk have this gift also yet when turned inward it creates darkness. A very thin line between the two forces of motivation
AM: Absolutely! That’s how I see it now
AB: If it flows through its higher energy if its inward its lower ego driven energy
AM: Probably this total acceptance and celebration of that energy assisted in calming it down. Though I always fear that it would rear it’s head again! Haha which is just more anxiety I guess.
AB:I wonder if that if we embraced it that it would make more sense rather than trying to dull it down
AM: yes put it out into lots of creation then you will feel awesome…
You’ll have to come back for more as we’ll publish the full interview later! For now listen to their new track ‘Funky Funky Licky Licky‘.
Visit The Omega Point’s website or follow them on Facebook or Instagram
Author:
Al Ballentyne is head of editorial at Threads Radio and a freelancer working in entertainment, broadcasting and education. He performs regularly a ‘Barry Bungalow’, a surrealist cabaret entertainer & storyteller. He co-runs ‘Canned Aid’ – a social initiative aimed at taking direct action against food poverty. He works as ‘The Guerrilla Mystic’ which is a project aimed at demystifying spiritualist ideas and practice so more people can access and benefit from connecting with the energetic flow of the universe. He hosts ‘Barry Bungalow’s Extreme Fetish Club’ & ‘The Guerrilla Mystic’ shows on Threads. Al works as a guitar-for-hire, general disco menace and moonlights as a lecturer/educational consultant. You can connect with him on
Twitter: @alballentyne
Instagram: @alballentyne
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