Matt Hsu's Obscure Orchestra
Ensemble
Matt
Shop
Composing
Writing
Soundscape
Press
Welcome To The Neighbourhood
In Colour
Birdnest Hair
Every Step Is A Horizon
LIVE LAUGH DECOLONISE
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.








Beginning as Matt’s solo multi-instrumental offbeat tinkerings, Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra has grown to one of Australia’s most respected ensembles. Challenging the pomp and formality of classical orchestras, we are a DIY anti-racist ensemble underpinned by community-minded inclusivity, comprising of 20+ BIPOC, First Nations, disabled, non-binary and trans artists.
Where's Home?
A collaboration with Quandamooka rapper and poet Ethan Enoch, exploring place, displacement and sovereignty on stolen land.
Arakawa
Written with Kaya Tominaga, inspired by Japanese and Taiwanese work songs.
Welcome To The Neighbourhood
Joint live version of 'Welcome To The Neighbourhood' with Taiwan's Zy The Way and guest Prof. Chelsea Watego reading excerpts from Another Day In The Colony.

LIVE LAUGH DECOLONISE

ft. BADASSMUTHA, Chelsea Watego, Nima Doostkhah, Rivermouth (Jonathan Sriranganathan) & Saro Roro
Yep, we subverted the 'Live Laugh Love' phrase (that cultural shorthand for “speak to the manager” wealthy white entitlement) into an anti-racist anthem, celebrating solidarity among people of colour, gender diverse and marginalised communities, in the collective effort to decolonise everywhere. Anti-racism and decolonising doesn't just mean
non-white people excavating trauma, it can be a celebration of solidarity, survival, and kinship among intersectional communities of colour, marginalities and allies. LIVE LAUGH DECOLONISE is about pursuing happiness, mischief and joyful solidarity, in the face of/despite systemic colonial oppression and pressure to assimilate.

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 and gender 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.

MINDY
Mango Yellow
BRONTE
Black (Women's Rolled Sleeve)
ASH
Roasted Orange
Some text about this image Some text about this image
All profits to
refugee support
All profits are donated to Refugee Voices 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)



Melanin Moon

ft. Saro Roro & Tiarn Toni

Ensemble musicians

Yvette Ofa Agapow
VIBRAPHONE / XYLOPHONE / MARIMBA

Yvette Ofa Agapow

BADASSMUTHA
VOCALS
Ethan Enoch
RAPPER

Ethan Enoch

Nima Doostkhah
RAPPER / SONGWRITER
Kat Gough
VIOLIN
Ai Hasegawa
CELLO
Laura Hjortshoj-Haller
FRENCH HORN
Matt Hsu
COMPOSER / DIRECTOR
Andrew Humphreys
BRASS HORNS / UKULELE
Georgie-Rose Jurss
BRASS HORNS / UKULELE
Sophie Kristensen
BARITONE SAXOPHONE / CLARINET
Courts Lovell
CLARINET / SAXOPHONE

Courts Lovell

PJ McEwan
VIOLA
Lucie Pegna
VOCALIST / SONGWRITER

Lucie

Katie Randall
DRUMS
Han Reardon-Smith
FLUTES

cyberBanshee

Skylar Sansome
VIBRAPHONE / XYLOPHONE / MARIMBA
Gabriella Spina
HARP
Jodie Rottle
FLUTE / EVERYDAY OBJECTS

jodie rottle

Jonathan Sriranganathan
CLARINET / SPOKEN WORD

Rivermouth

Kaya Tominaga
TAIKO / UKULELE / VOCALS

Kaya Tominaga Taiko

Caroline Townsend
BASS

full power happy hour

Ebony Westwood
TRUMPET
Fiona Wheeler
TROMBONE / UKULELE

Frequent Collaborators

apadalia
SINGER / COMPOSER

apadalia

Cieavash Arean
MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST

Cieavash Arean

Blaq Carrie
RAPPER / SONGWRITER

Blaq Carrie

Ash Djokic
ILLUSTRATOR/ANIMATOR

Ash Djokic

Aurora Liddle-Christie
VOCALIST / SONGWRITER

SOL CHLD

Cait Lin 凱琳
VOCALIST

Cait Lin 凱琳

Madi Martson
ILLUSTRATOR

Madi Marston

Anisa Nandaula
SPOKEN WORD ARTIST

Anisa Nandaula

Sophie Reid-Singer
VOCALS

Sophie Reid-Singer

Sachém
RAPPER

Sachém

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.


Terry Whidborne & Tiny Owl Workshop

The Adventures of Moon

Composed music for critically-lauded author and illustrator Terry Whidborne’s book and animation project The Adventures of Moon — in collaboration with publisher Tiny Owl Workshop.

To create this piece, Matt used harp, saw, mbira, water filled cups, shakuhachi, ocarina, glockenspiel, piano and forest field recordings.

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 Sriranganathan 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.

Writing & talks

QMUSIC

2022 QLD Music Awards acceptance speech

In 2022, Matt won his second Queensland Music Awards for World Music. In his acceptance speech, he thanked his collaborators in Taiwanese, spoke about the Obscure Orchestra community, and highlighted the importance of amplifying marginalised communities.
Watch speech
29 MAR 2022

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.

Where's Home?

with Ethan Enoch ft. Lucie Pegna
First Nations activist-artist Ethan Enoch joins forces with cult-favourite artist-activist Matt Hsu’s Obscure Orchestra for their collaboration Where’s Home? – with a friendship grown from marching side-by-side at rallies and protests, and shared BIPOC artist community.
Unspooling Ethan’s lineage and complex relationship to the notion of ‘home’ on colonised stolen land, the supremely talented Quandmooka/Quandamooka performer excavates his Indigenous roots in a lyrical homecoming to Minjerribah where his ancestors have lived and cared for land, sea and air.

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

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

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




就當家裡
Welcome To The Neighbourhood: Taiwan

Matt conceived the original Welcome To The Neighbourhood to explore themes of belonging and identity in Australia. In 2021, Matt brought this concept to Taiwan to explore the daulity of his ancestral roots. Working with kindred Taiwanese-Australian musician Cait Lin 凱琳, they brought on hip-hop icons Chunyan 春艷, ILL MO 老莫 and Indigenous-Taiwanese Vita 張芮菲, to capture Taiwan’s freethinking spirit, queer progressivity and vibrant culture.