Matt Hsu's Obscure Orchestra
About
Shop
Composing
Writing
Soundscape
Press
Welcome To The Neighbourhood
In Colour
Birdnest Hair
Every Step Is A Horizon
Make Everything
Some text about this image
Welcome to the Obscure Orchestra, a curious world
of intricately crafted experimental music, made with
world instruments and rethought everyday objects
— the brainchild of award winner Dr Matt Hsu.

About Matt

Matt Hsu (he/him) is a Taiwanese-Australian composer and musician based in Meanjin, performing as Matt Hsu's Obscure Orchestra.
Experimental sounds
Enamoured with natural sounds, Matt blends world and orchestral instruments with field recordings and everyday objects. As a multi-instrumentalist, he plays over 20 instruments.
World inspirations
Drawing on his cross-cultural upbringing,
Matt creates otherworldly compositions that celebrate difference, inclusivity and liminal spaces between cultures.
Advocacy through music
Matt advocates for marginal communities, using music projects to underscore refugee, immigrant, First Nations, gender and abilities diverse issues through artistic collaborations.

Welcome to the

Neighbourhood

After co-composing and performing in La Boite Theatre Company's
The Neighbourhood in 2020, Matt gathered his castmates to create
music addressing refugee rights, black lives and racial injustice.

Not-for-profit shop

All profits go towards refugees and asylum seeker organisations
to support people in detention or resettling into community.

OFA
Roasted Orange
KOU
Black (Unisex)
CHAVI
Leaf Green
MINDY
Mango Yellow
BRONTE
Black (Women's Rolled Sleeve)
ASH
Roasted Orange
ANISA
Leaf Green
REVY
Black (Unisex)
BRANDON
Mango Yellow
ALEEA
Roasted Orange
LEYLA
Black
RAE
Leaf Green
SANJA
Mango Yellow
MATHIEU
Black (Unisex)
SARA
Roasted Orange
FREYA
Leaf Green
BLAQ CARRIE
Black (Unisex)
LOUIS
Mango Yellow
TRINA
Roasted Orange
CATHY
Black (Unisex)
NIMA
Leaf Green
TARO
Mango Yellow
AURORA
Black (Women's Rolled Sleeve)
ASH
Roasted Orange
STELLA
Leaf Green
REMI AND FELILA
Black (Unisex)
NAAVIKARAN
Mango Yellow
Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image
All profits to
refugee support
All profits are donated to Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Refugee Solidarity Meanjin, and Refugee and Immigration Legal Service (view cost transparency)
Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image
Ethical, organic
& sustainable
Made from organic cotton with eco-friendly inks in carbon neutral facilities. Ethical labour practices ensure fair wages for garment workers.
Some text about this image Some text about this image
Designed by Matt Hsu
and Loopy!
Colour shirts designed by 'Make Everything' co-writers Loopy!. Black shirts designed by Matt Hsu. Inclusive and unisex sizings (size chart)

17-piece live ensemble

For live performances, Brisbane's most eclectic musicians and multi-disciplinary artists form the live Obscure Orchestra — an ensemble underpinned by gender equity, inclusion and visibility, comprised of BIPOC, First Nations, non-binary and trans artists.
Make Everything
QLD Music Award winning celebration of creating art for the love of it ft. dream-pop artist apadalia .
Found sound taiwan
Soundscape of found objects and Taiwan field recording with cyberBanshee and Jodie Rottle.
birdnest hair
A playful celebration of scrappy optimism and breaking down of traditional gender roles.

Ensemble musicians

Yvette Ofa Agapow
VIBRAPHONE / MARIMBA

Yvette Ofa Agapow

Kathryn Bermingham
CLARINET / BARITONE SAX

The Mouldy Lovers

Aimee Harris
HARP / VIOLA
Jen Horn
ACCORDION / PIANO

Jennifer Horn Illustrator

Andrew Humphreys
BRASS HORNS / UKULELE
Courts Lovell
CLARINET / SAXOPHONE

Courts Lovell

Fin Nicol-Taylor
BRASS (CO-CONDUCTOR)

fin's contingency plan

Katie Randall
DRUMS
Hannah Reardon-Smith
FLUTES

cyberBanshee

Jodie Rottle
FLUTE / EVERYDAY OBJECTS

jodie rottle

Jonathan Sri
CLARINET / SPOKEN WORD

Rivermouth

Kaya Tominaga
TAIKO / UKULELE / VOCALS

Salmon & The Peaches

Caroline Townsend
DOUBLE BASS

full power happy hour

Alice Wheeler
BRASS HORNS (ORCHESTRATOR)
Fiona Wheeler
TROMBONE / UKULELE
Flora Wong
VIOLIN

Flora Wong

Frequent Collaborators

apadalia
LO-FI DREAM POP MUSICIAN

apadalia

Cieavash Arean
MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST

Cieavash Arean

Blaq Carrie
RAPPER / SONGWRITER

Blaq Carrie

Nima Doostkhah
RAPPER / SONGWRITER
Aurora Liddle-Christie
VOCALIST / SONGWRITER

SOLCHLD

Naavikaran
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST

Naavikaran

Anisa Nandaula
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST

Anisa Nandaula

Lucie Pegna
VOCALIST / SONGWRITER

Lucie

Composing imaginative and bespoke music for arts projects, from ambient
lo-fi soundscapes to full orchestral arrangements.

Music composition
video games
new media
film & TV
theatre
events
Brisbane Festival 2020

A Curious Arcade

Working with Imaginary Theatre, Matt Hsu composed the soundtrack to Brisbane Festival's A Curious Arcade, a tactile 'choose your own adventure'-style theatre installation. Matt intricately crafted over two hours of dynamic music — a 'living soundtrack' responsive to narrative developments, environmental changes and player choices for five distinctive storytelling machines. To capture the adventurous spirit of protagonist Celeste, the 1920s adventure setting, and the magical-realism of artistic director Thom Browning's world building, Matt sought out vintage instrumentation that drew inspiration from 19th and 20th century avant-garde classical music — contributing to an imaginatively executed and beloved Brisbane Festival 2020 experience.
La Boite Theatre Company
Composing and live performance for 2020 La Boite's The Neighbourhood, exploring migrant, refugee and First Nations experiences in Australia.
MELT Festival: Brood
Composer for MELT: Festival of Queer Arts and Culture interactive media installation by Sophie Reid-Singer/Clunkk at Brisbane Powerhouse.
We See Each Other: Digital Narrative
Composer for digital stories project by Dr Freya Wright-Brough, working with writers of refugee backgrounds to challenge reductive labels.
The Legend of the Lost Pearl
Worked with composer Hayden Riley providing trumpet, clarinet and percussion studio performances for animated film.
4ZZZ: Radio Reversal
Composed music for Cracks in the Concrete oral histories project by 4ZZZ politics and philosophy show Radio Reversal.
Greens Councillor Jonathan Sri
Provided a library of music for Gabba Ward Greens Councillor Jonathan Sri in creating digital media resources.
Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image Some text about this image

Birdnest Hair

Music
Composed with all women gang vocals, a Play School style rap, and a collection of instruments and objects including scissors, kitchen utensils, ocarina, saw, t’rung and tubular bells and tabla.
Film
‘Birdnest Hair’ is a playful celebration of scrappy optimists and a challenge to traditional gender roles. Co-directed by Matt Hsu and Ashleigh Djokic — a multi-disciplinary artist and animator.

Music writing & talks

Racial dysmorphia and the Obscure Orchestra

Matt explores how creating award winning song 'Make Everything' accompanied his self-excavation of cultural identity as a Taiwanese-Australian arts practitioner.
Read article
10 MAY 2020
Peril Magazine
QMUSIC

2020 QLD Music Awards acceptance speech

During Matt's Queensland Music Awards acceptance speech, he took the opportunity to speak about the importance of representation and diversity in music, highlighting the white male homogeneity of Brisbane’s music industry, particularly in behind-the-scenes in leadership positions.
Watch speech
3 MAR 2020
TEDxQUT 2018 explored the theme 'Do It Yourself'. Matt was invited to perform at the event, stepping through his process of multi-layered music composition, using an array of instruments and live looping.
Fleet Foxes' member Morgan Henderson shares an artist-to-artist chat with fellow multi-instrumentalist Matt Hsu. They discuss diversity, queer allyship, the ‘folkification’ of culture and how music addresses racial tension in the US.
Peril Magazine Travelogue:
Annotated Playlist
6 AUG 2020
Matt shares the music that has shaped his worldview and provided the seeds of inspiration for his Obscure Orchestra — providing insightful annotations into what makes each of his 17 selected songs meaningful.
PhD thesis Indie-Folk™: vintage sensibilites in the 21st century
26 MAR 2019
While indie-folk music ostensibly celebrates back-to-roots simplicity and communality, the realities of participation for gender, race and class diversities are complex — given historical realities of old-timey nostalgia and the enduring canon of white maleness in indie music scenes.

Tenzin Choegyal
collaboration

Every Step Is A Horizon

In 2017, Grammy-nominated Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal met in a ramen shop. Quickly becoming friends and musical collaborators. Together they created the piece Every Step Is A Horizon , exploring the refugee ordeal — the simultaneously seeking of safe harbour and the aching remembrance of ancestral lands.

The piece features poetry by Tibetan artist-activist Tenzin Tsundue recited by Choegyal, cimbalom by Andre Bonetti, mandolin and vocals by Hannah Ryder, and Matt's signature multi-instrumental arrangements using mbira, accordion. double bass, musical saw, trumpet, kitchen percussion, euphonium and clarinet.

Some text about this image
Soundscapes

Found Sound

Putting to use his lifelong fascination with natural and
environmental sounds, Matt creates field recordings while
travelling to shape into soundscape pastiche keepsakes.
Taiwan
Japan

Press

Reviews, interviews and features.
Positivity, Protest and Place on Matt Hsu's Obscure Orchestra's Welcome to the Neighbourhood
Laundry echo
2020 Winners
QLD Music Awards
Music video Friday Taiwan
Streetvoice Blow
Orchestra of one
SBS News
Playlist #15 — Matt Hsu's Obscure Orchestra
Liminal magazine
Watch this Brisbane muso play 15 different instruments on folk-rap track
Brisbane Times
Artist re-imagines platforms for releasing music
No Walls
Difference is magic: Matt Hsu chats his Obscure Orchestra,
Happy Magazine
Matt Music
West End Magazine
‘Welcome To The Neighbourhood’ Is A Powerful Music Moment
Ben Madden
The 7 incredible Australian artists you need to hear this week
Tone Deaf
Matt Hsu's Obscure Orchestra Champions Diversity On 'Welcome To The Neighbourhood'
Music Is My Muse
One-man band celebrates racial diversity
QUT News
Premiere: Music Video 'Welcome To The Neighbourhood'
Scenestr
Welcome To The Neighbourhood
Underground Stage
Interview: Matt Hsu
The Soundcheck
Single Premiere
The AU Review
Radio interview: music, culture and diversity
ABC Radio Brisbane

Make Everything

Co-written with Taiwanese wearable art duo Loopy! (also creating the single art) and lo-fi dream pop artist apadalia , with production and composition by Matt. It celebrates creating art without the expectation of fame or reward. Featuring lyrics in English and Taiwanese.
Some text about this image