Inspired by some of the recent genre-defying and form-challenging writing on motherhood, friends Ceridwen Dovey and Eliza Bell decided to take a creative risk and co-write MOTHERTONGUES, a book of bio-autofiction about early motherhood.
From the start of writing together, Ceridwen and Eliza were interested in blurring the boundaries between different modes of expression: prose, poetry, theatre and song.
This is why they asked their Sydney songwriter friend, Keppie Coutts, to work with them on creating eight original songs to be interspersed throughout the audiobook, in between the textual narrative. The audiobook will not be a pale aural imitation of the physical book but will create a more atmospheric audio mood. Through music and song, they can represent some of the bursts, range and depth of emotions felt by women in the years of mothering young children in a way they can’t through text alone.
This layering of intellect and emotion, the shifting from text to song, from thinking to feeling, the toggling between the cerebral and the embodied, is exactly what is required of mothers too. In this way, by taking down the boundaries between art forms, and messing things up a little, they hope to give readers – and listeners – a richer, more complex experience.
We ran a Pozible crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds so that Keppie could perform/record/produce these songs for the audiobook/album (working with acclaimed ARIA and APRA-nominated composers/producers/musicians Maria Alfonsine and Damian de Boos-Smith at MADBS Composing Palace). We're really grateful to all our supporters for helping us reach our goal!
The recording of this album could not have happened without the incredible support of our community, who funded the project through our Pozible campaign. We are also so incredibly grateful to our sponsors, NobleOak, and The Open Academy at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. The recording was also partially funded by the NSW Government through the Create NSW grant program. We are so grateful for the support!
