Mungangga Garlagula sets contemporary First Nations ghost stories alongside didgeridoo interludes from performer-creator Mark Atkins.

Also dimly visible on stage is performer and co-creator Erkki Veltheim, who has prepared an engaging suite of musical accompaniment for the production, originally recorded with Genevieve Lacey (recorder), Vanessa Tomlinson (percussion), Stephen Magnusson (electric guitar), Anthony Pateras (piano) and Scott Tinkler (trumpet and saxophone).

Mark Atkins and Erkki Veltheim: Mungangga Garlagula. Photo © Edify Media

Musically, the piece shines in how it moves from an off-kilter new jazz feel (particularly with the brass and guitar instrumentation, where I am reminded of Tom Waits’ work), and into fractured new music and stumbling atonalism (particularly expressed in Pateras’ piano, Veltheim’s whining violin accents and the haunted echoes of Tinkler’s trumpet).

This is punctuated by dense blocks of Atkins’ digeridoo, sometimes acting as a compelling vibrating drone supplemented by electronics from Veltheim, and at other times evolving and driving through varied echoed vocalisations and thumping stops which cut across Atkins’ otherwise continuous cyclic breathing.

In terms of concert performance, the piece...