Electric Fields feel like they’ve been edging their way to Eurovision. National finals viewers will recall their second-place 2000 And Whatever, runners-up behind Kate Miller-Heidke, and Eurovision viewers got a glimpse of them awarding the Australian points at the 2019 Contest. This year they will take centre stage.
I was in Australia earlier this year and everywhere I went it was clear how much the country is grappling with its historical treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Whilst the duo does not feature the first representation by an Aboriginal artist, selecting a song that includes for the first time lyrics in Yankunytjatjara, an Aboriginal language, feels like the most natural progression for Eurovision. And what representation it is!
Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross pack so much into these three minutes. The lyrics reference cultures coexisting in harmony, working together, with hints of the cosmos and sci-fi, our interconnected existences, and queer identities. There are references from Fleetwood Mac to the Golden Ratio, a mysterious mathematical pattern that appears throughout nature and human endeavour. Musically there’s the group’s trademark electronica and some glorious disco-funk piano. The video is simple, yet disarmingly effective.
There’s not a thing about this song that isn’t entirely joyful.
I can’t wait to see this on stage, and Electric Fields promise us “something very special” for their Eurovision presentation. If I have any reservation, it is the stagecraft. Whilst 2000 And Whatever resonated so much with Eurovision fans (it also finished second in our Second Cherry best-of-the-rest competition) the Australia Decides performance did carry a modicum of amateurish chaos. But we’re five years further on, with more live experience and time to plan a made-for-TV moment. Bring it on.
Photo credit: Nick Wilson/SBS/EBU