A Conversation with Cutlery

New Age Noise/ All Girl Electronic would be nothing with our incredible mentors, Del Lumanta and Nicola Morton. (We love you forever 🥺💕).

Incredibly caring and patient, the collective and everyone who has participated in the programs have been wholly supported by these amazing humans. It’s not something that we take for granted and we are so grateful for them. From being so giving with their knowledge to being shown so many different and cool ways of making music to giving advice over snacks, Del and Nicola have made these classes so incredible. More importantly, they have been instrumental in making those classes more than just ‘classes.’ These classes have facilitated a strong and beautiful creative community in Western Sydney. It’s a truly beautiful thing and so so needed. So thank you Del and Nicola <3

We are so excited to have Del and Nicola performing as Cutlery for New Age Noise: Saturn Return on the 15th of Nov. From diving into what it has been like to make music together to clowning the NAN crew with false promises of Flume mentoring us (LMAO), NANC members, Jenny (Wytchings) and Liana (Milkffish) interview this ~dynamic duo~!

Photography of Cutlery performing at Garageworks #3 at Bankstown Arts Centre by:
Christopher Woe Photography & Romy Caen

J: Hi! Can you please introduce yourselves?

D: I am Del. I’m an artist and musician from Sydney.

N: I am Nicola. I’m into making art and music about grasses and the moon.

Photo taken from Information & Cultural Exchange.

J: Can you please share the story behind your artist name, Cutlery?

D & N: Cutlery was named by Julia Mendel who is the original producer of New Age Noise (formerly known as AGE/All Girl Electronic.) Nicola and I were asked to perform together for Garageworks in Bankstown in 2018. We couldn’t think of anything good but when Julia suggested we should be called Cutlery it felt right.

L: If you could, what planet would you live on and why?

D: Pluto, cos it’s the furthest away from Earth! Haha! Seems peaceful?

N: Moon, coz i can still look back at earth, sentimentally. And I love cheese, so I could always eat it.

L: What is your favourite gear to work with?

D: I am into my laptop and using Ableton at the moment. It’s handy for writing music quickly and gigs cos I can just fit it in my bag. I’m all for ending the task of carrying around clunky gear. My back is creaky.

N: I recently had to pack because of a bushfire, and my laptop and Realistic MG-1 were the first thing I packed, doomsday-prepper ready. I love my new 80L backpack that fits it all in.

J: How has it been working with each other? What does a Cutlery music-making session look like?

D: So fun! I have learned a lot from Nicola over the years and it’s all been so invaluable. For Cutlery practice we are pretty low key and have never come with any super specific ideas on how to approach “the Cutlery sound.” It’s usually an extended jam where we figure out an even balance of our styles. We don’t talk much, we just do and it’s always a nice surprise. It’s the most relaxed project I’m in I reckon. Also, we’ve only played together twice, lol.

N: I’ve gotten to know Del heaps more because of NAN and I think we have a great jamming relationship because we are used to working together. Each Cutlery music-making session has been different. I think Del and I are really versatile and we’ve focused on lots of different projects last year and this year.. When we get together it starts off a bit like listening to each others sound and finding sounds, patterns, notes etc that can complement it. Thinking face.. Miraculously, we always end grinning, can’t believe we made a dope set, just like that 🙂

J: What’s a song that you wish you made and why?

D: Ginny Arnell – Dumbhead. It’s very much on my frequency in terms of silliness and pop. Haven’t been able to achieve it in any of my projects thus far but it’s a goal.
N: Smashing Pumpkins ‘1979’ grunge was the best era, This song is the best combination between bad-ass and sensitive. I wanted to be in a grunge band when I was in high school but I was shit at guitar. Then a few years later I tried Cubase (my first DAW) and I found making electronic music was easy and I liked doing it..

J: What have been your most memorable moments from mentoring New Age Noise (fka All Girl Electronic)?

D: One of my favourite moments was when I pretended that Flume was coming to visit as a guest mentor. People in the class especially Alison, were trying to contain their excitement, until I was like… JUST KIDDING!! And then I laughed forever. Hahaha! That was a cruel joke, sorry (not sorry) world. But above all, it’s been very cool to see some of our returning participants grow in all kinds of ways. From watching people’s first performances or even witnessing someone become keen to share what they’ve made or what they’re obsessed with are the best moments for me. Also meeting lots of the mentors has opened up a lot of wholesome conversations and perspectives. I think I’m pretty lucky to have a job that enables these kinds of relationships.

N: I remember the Flume moment.. Hm. I love it when we all agree on something, mentor included. It amazes me how many shared experiences we can have- good and bad ones. I don’t know Rainbow (Chan) that well, and when she was mentoring and explaining her songwriting techniques, she told us the emotional story behind her crying on ‘Pearled Into’- I’ll always remember that.. I also love seeing you all get the courage to do your first share, or first performance.

J: What are on your playlists right now?

N: I’ve been listening to mostly rappers lately – I find songs about sex and being a loser empowering.

Miiesha – Drowning – I love the political newsreel intro.
Awkwafina – Pockies – “I’m very awkward but its fine”
Deli Girls – Officer – Also political intro
Lady Saw – Heels On – “Let’s tear up the dancefloor, I wanna give it to you hardcore”
I’ve also been listening to this playlist Ryuchi Sakamoto made for dining. I love eating. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2YY3rAwm9tldNhlBmuMqgY?si=nG02eiAGQ2-cXBdA65DdwA

J: Why did you decide to be part of New Age Noise: Saturn Return and what can we expect from your performance?

D: We were invited and stoked to be asked! Our set is pretty free-form, spacey and wobbly. We may or may not drop a beat – depends on the mood.

N: We were so stoked to be asked to be part of New Age Noise: Saturn Return, we really want to play together for you all. For the previous New Age Noise shows we played solo, It is a nice ending when we can play together.. I’ll be playing a lot of processed field recordings, Lia has really inspired me to use more field recordings in my music. You can expect us to cry!!

J: Couldn’t help but make this the last question. What is your favourite piece of cutlery? 😀

D: Spoon.

N: Sporf – everything rolled into one.

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