In 2024 Naarm / Melbourne based musician Phoebe Dubar aka IKSRE* took her young family on an incredible 4 month road trip. Travelling 20, 000  km around Western Australia. Sleeping in their solar-powered caravan. Along the way – inspired by breath-taking natural landmarks and personal family memories – Dubar created compositions – armed only with a portable synth, collapsible electric guitar, voice mic, and fistful of pedals. The resulting 19 tracks act as an aural diary, and have now been released as a 2 part journey. 

The first, Expansion A – South starts on the border of South Australia and Victoria, with drones drawn from the guitar. The instrument’s resonance ringing Eno & Lanois / Apollo Soundtracks-esque. Immediately bringing a stillness. The vast plains of Nullabor are the next destination. Celebrated by a sheer wall of otherworldly sighs. Dubar’s ethereal exclamations hiding in the shimmering, the scene is serene, but intense. As if at the eye of a hurricane of insect chattering. Esperance’s coastline contrasts white beaches with turquoise seas, and supplies a field recorded rush of surf. Elephant Rocks, situated in William Bay National Park, are commemorated with hypnotic keys, heavy with reverb and interwoven with soaring, cosmic, strings and wordless, angelic harmonies. Margaret River’s limestone caves surrender the sonic treasure of water trickling between stalactites and underground lakes. The coastal region of Kalbarri is marked by spectacular cliffs and formations, with monikers like “Nature’s Window”. Dubar’s tribute is an enchanting, intoxicating siren’s song. Up to the north west, and a cacophonous cicada chorus serenades dusk at Ningaloo. Osprey Bay is a gentle wash of waves, gamelan gongs and flute-like frequencies. The fresh water swimming holes of Karijini, in the Hamersley Ranges of Pilbara, colourfully characterised by golden spinifex grass and red, iron-rich earth, has its name repeated like a multi-tracked mantra. Free of traditional lyrics, it, however, hits like echoes of some timeless tune. 

Expansion B heads North, and begins on the Dampier Peninsula, the land of the Aboriginal Bardi People. The soundtrack now nocturnal, less organic, more electronic and cinematic. Broome, in Kimberley, referred to as Rubibi by the native Yawuru People, is the habitat of the Butcherbird, whose calls Dubar mimics to make moonlit melodies. Painting pictures of midnight forests and woodland. Piloting the remote Gibb River Road, at Bell Gorge Dubar’s isolated singing – like MBV with everything else removed – sighing in awe at the sunset and possessing a spirit-soothing, prayer-like quality. Crossing into the North Territory at Kakadu, Dubar describes the golden hour there with an ECM-esque mix of tingsha, improvised jazzy runs and field recorded wildlife. Her salute to Litchfield National Park’s Wangi Falls is also a sublime stretch of treated vocal vapour, but more mournful in mood, perhaps because it signposts the point when the family turned back toward Melbourne. Returning through the deserts of Warumunga to visit the spiritual site of Karlu Karlu, two huge boulders nicknamed The Devil’s Marbles. The moment mapped by more delicate, elegant Daniel Lanois-like counterpoint and reverb. Stopping off then at sunrise in opal mining town Coober Pedy, where the residents live underground due to the fierce summer heat. Here, Dubar uses the shrieks and calls of circling kestrels and galahs to surround her wonderfully wonky warped 6-string shapes. Finally coming full circle and reaching Home. Ending the expedition with an intimate piano and viola piece. 

I was introduced to Dubar’s music in 2021, via her contribution to Lo Recordings’ Spaciousness series. I then followed her work through 2022’s Awake Within The Dream, and 2023’s collaborations with Anthene, Marine Eyes and Shelf Nunny. I get sent a ton of ambient stuff, but Dubar’s releases always leap out. This is not due to anything new or revolutionary. All this reviewing is totally subjective anyhow. It’s just that her mediative compositions, and live improvisations, never fail to speak to me. Sometimes summoning landscapes, sometimes memories. At others, simply instantly instilling a designed / desired state of peace and calm. As I said, I’m not sure why this should be. These Expansions are no different. While documenting a very personal trip, with each “song” crafted on location, and with specific scenery in mind, the travelogue is translated, transformed into dreamscapes that the listener is free to interpret, and, for a while, their thoughts wander where they like. 

*I Keep Seeing Rainbows Everywhere

Expansion A and B can be ordered directly from Phoebe.