N (May)

When Glenn Gould wrote The Idea of North he didn’t mean The Fact of North. Voices and soundscapes were his friends. The main motif was a train, that would terminate, leaving his friends staring at icy snow. Canada’s like that, white as day. Only by going to Tasmania does it occur that Tasmanians have their own Idea of North. It’s a vast, difficult city of multiplying voices, across the water, that remains in their minds long after they’ve switched off the light. May writes an Idea in some Melburnians of a certain age, a permanent aquamarine soundscape called Deep North.