SUMMONING is a project that double bassist Jacques Emery has been working towards for about five years. The work,  a 90-minute “deep listening ritual” finds its first home in the intimate dance hall of Annandale Creative Arts Centre – a bastion for the weird, wonderful and community-driven music of Sydney.

There are pillows scattered around the floor, and rows of chairs behind them – the choice is yours.

Jacques Emery: SUMMONING. Photo supplied

Before the performance, Emery gives a small presentation to explain what exactly it is that he’s doing, and what exactly it is that we should be listening out for. It’s more about the notes he’s not playing than the notes he is. 

The name of the game is ‘difference tones’, or the aural phenomena that emerges when two notes, very closely-tuned together, interact with one another; a strange beating, or shimmering emerges. He’s also playing with overtones, or the naturally occurring higher frequencies that pop out in any given note.

Performing on amplified double bass, Emery begins by sounding the highest two strings on the instrument,...