Eurovision 2024: Electric Fields Start Rehearsals in Malmö 🇦🇺
Electric Fields – Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross – will represent Australia at Eurovision 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, performing One Milkali (One Blood). The duo almost went to Eurovision in 2019 with their hit 2000 And Whatever. But, in a public vote, they were edged out by Kate Miller-Heidke’s Zero Gravity – yes, the one she performed while swirling around on a pole. Since then, they’ve written a Sydney WorldPride anthem, We The People, performed at Mardi Gras, and worked with Baz Luhrmann.
Sweden is a long way from the Anangu country of central Australia but as they take to the stage for rehearsals, Zach and Michael tell Cain Cooper, they are ready to take their language and spirit to the world.
DNA: Since 2019, we the people, have been rooting for you to go to Eurovision.
Zaachariaha: [laughs] We get that every year.
Michael: Did you hear that Z? Everyone’s rooting you! I am so proud of Kate [Miller- Heidke]. She did a fucking brilliant job, and since Eurovision – Australia Decides we’ve been doing our own thing. We’ve been commissioned by the Sydney Opera House, Sydney fireworks, Baz Luhrmann, ABC Kids, the AFL Grand Final, The Australian Open, and all this stuff for multiple symphony orchestras.
Z: And we’ve had our music transcribed, so beautifully orchestrated.
Why do audiences love playing in your electric fields?
Z: I think it’s because we sit with feeling and experience and are very diligent about the way we write music. We compose it and have these beautiful harmonies that trigger a beautiful celebratory moment with people. We tap into people’s loneliness. It’s the “I want to figure it out, and I want to be on the journey of finding a solution to it.” We play with all those elements and narrow it down to a three-minute track.
Tell us about this song One Milkali (One Blood), this dance banger, and why it’s going to Eurovision.
Z: This song is about the different generations, the different melanin, and it’s going to Eurovision because we’re all connected. There are so many yummy hooks in it.
M: The lyrics are woven with a philosophy that is timeless but sometimes forgotten. As we bumble our way to a more dangerous world of social dissonance and the “us-and-them-ing” of otherwise coherent societies, it’s vital to remember that all life shares the same energy and all humans share the same blood.
Z: It is a competition and we’re representing Australia. But we are songwriters, we sit in the art of music, and we’re connecting to our brothers and sisters. Every contestant going to Eurovision operates from the same consciousness and that has nothing to do with what country you represent.
That fits the Eurovision theme of United By Music. People from different tongues will sing your lyrics back to you… in your tongue.
Z: Amazing. With the Yankunytjatjara language, we use the tongue a lot… [laughs]. But the way other people use their language and what the choreography of their tongue is… [pauses] it hits different to the top and the bottom, you know, and then some are very… versatile. [hysterical laughter]
Zaachariaha, you’re an accomplished visual artist; are your works going to form some part of the staging?
Z: We’ve got to be smart because what we want foremost is to deliver the song, but we’re enjoying working with all the people in the background and giving room to the unknown.
Who do you think is your competition at this year’s Eurovision?
Z: Some of the songs are very predictable, which is good, but I like what we’re bringing, and that is very unpredictable.
We’re going to give you the “Ooos…” but then you’ll get the “Ahhh!”
M: Are you talking about a Grindr date now, or…?
On that note, who is the sexiest Eurovision contestant this year?
M: They say don’t screw the crew…
Z: [sings] …but we do!
When you’re a duo at Eurovision many people automatically assume there’s a romantic chemistry – is there any of that?
M: Zaachariaha’s beyond gender in a way, and we’ve got lots of trans family who are special to us, but the whole idea of siloing gender to the left and right is quite a Western modern idea. Z has taught me that she’s not bothered with English pronouns, and when you’re working in the English language as a third or fourth language, she/he just doesn’t matter so much. What will the world look like in fifty to one hundred years? Zero families will have a gender reveal party, there’ll be no such thing as pink and blue in regard to kids’ lunchboxes, and there’ll be no such thing as a gender pay gap because people just aren’t bothered whether your genitalia matches your spirit.
We’re really excited for the world to have the same epiphany.
Z: It’s also a challenge for one to be open with the arc of “relationship”. When you are giving something to somebody, you give it to them because you want them to have that and you don’t want anything else. There was already a model here on this continent [Australia] that had its way of dealing with this gender thing or the relationship between people. In our culture, a baby automatically has a friendship with an older person. There’s an energy where a 70-year-old needs to be childlike, and that child has already become wise. Hmm… where was I going with this?
M: We were talking about your Grindr date. [laughter]
In DNA #269 we spoke about queer enlightenment in music and how there’s still a way to go – how do you feel now?
M: We perform at a lot of queer festivals, we perform at a lot of Aboriginal cultural festivals, and just music festivals in general. We sit at the intersection of so many parts of our communities and it’s got nothing to do with why we make our music. We create beautified truth, and therefore our truth must be present and that’s where you see the queerness. It’s in the authenticity, not the intention.
Why do queer people gravitate to Eurovision?
M: I reckon the queer community are particularly creative and fun-loving and whether that stems from being rejected from the “normal” or not, we’re forced to find what is hidden between the cracks of the communities we’re born into.
Or… God just loves us more and our minds and our spirit create new ideas more easily.
Maybe it’s a survival mechanism that we’ve had to be creative, and we’re drawn to the unity of the bridges built at an event like Eurovision.
Z: We’re attracted to the freedom of “no limits” and the possibility of what life looks like without any control.
What do you hope comes from Eurovision, and the people you meet there?
Z: One thing Electric Fields doesn’t really do is engage with people on camera: we only know how to cook and then feed the people in a live setting, so this is a whole different experience for us. I want to learn their creative process and how they do what they do. We’re going to come out strong, engaging with our new audience, and we’re going to do it the way we want to do it because we have a certain way of being.
Electric Fields will represent Australia in the first semi-final to be held Tuesday 7 May (CEST). Australian viewers will need to tune into the LIVE broadcast on Wednesday 8 May at 5:00am (AEST) and the Grand Final on Sunday 12 May at 5:00am (AEST). For more information on how to vote please visit the official Eurovision Song Contest website here.
