Above,fromtop,L–R:SampatheGreat,EccaVandal,JuliaStone,JelenaGoluza,MontaigneandMojoJujuin
Her Sound, Her Story Below, from top:Courtney Barnett; Baro, bothinNow Sound: Melbourne’s Listening
especiallyin conversationalquotesfromlocalmusicindustry
elderslikeDeborahConway,TinaArenaandKateCeberano
whosufferedthroughthegrotesquemachismoofthebad
olddays.But,ratherthandwellonthesehorrorstories– or
speaktomusiciansassociatedwiththeorganisationLISTEN,
a feministadvocacygroupfor‘marginalisedfolkin Australian
music’,^15 which is conspicuouslyabsenthere – the filmmakers
eventuallyenactthewordsofoneoftheirinterviewsubjects,
MamaKin:to‘gently,subversivelychallengethestatusquo’.
Ratherthanaddressthemusicindustryona granular
level, this subjectis, to the filmmakers,somethingsecond
arytoparticipatingin ‘a muchbroaderconversation’about
genderpolitics(‘itcouldbeaboutanyindustry,’Sangiorgi
Dalimoresays).^16 HerSound,HerStoryeventuallyleavesoff
with a final reel familiarto viewersof a nonfictionsubgenre
wecancall‘worldisfuckedmovies’:docsaddressingsome
kindofinjustice(here:genderdisparityin music)andturn
ing towardsan overlyoptimisticconclusionthat servesas a
hopefulspurforparticipation,activism,change.‘Theanswer,’
Hunderstates,‘iswomencomingtogether,workingwith
eachotherandnotagainsteachother’^17 (this finale evoking,
forme,fellowMetrocriticAlexandraHellerNicholas’lament
aboutthe‘heavilyidealizedwaysthatwomen’scommunities
arereducedtosortofsimplisticoasesofagreeability and
harmony’ inonscreen representations^18 ).http://www.metromagazine.com.au | © ATOM | Metro Magazine 201• 105