SYDNEY BROTHER / SISTER DUO GNOME WIN FESTIVAL SOUNDTRACK COMPETITION

Sydney brother and sister duo Gnome have won Sydney Festival’s competition to find the perfect new soundtrack for the 2013 Festival. Their catchy original track, ‘Picnic!’, beautifully encapsulates the Festival’s tagline: This Is Our City In Summer.‘Picnic!’ will be used to promote Sydney Festival in videos, online and on the air, and will be heard by hundreds of thousands of Festival attendees and fans. Festival Director Lieven Bertels was really impressed with the number and quality of the entries. “With such a diverse range of tracks, it was a tough gig, but Gnome’s composition really stood out.”We were looking for something that fitted with the Festival’s image, as well as adding that extra spark, and the aptly-named ‘Picnic!’ does just that,” Lieven said.Gnome is the new project for Freya Berkhout, formerly one half of Sydney experimental pop outfit kyü (who supported Gold Panda and Djanimals at Sydney Festival 2011), and her brother Elias Berkhout.

With a newly mastered EP awaiting release, their inventive glitchy pop has already pricked the ears of Sydney music tastemakers FBi Radio.

Freya and Elias said the inspiration for the track comes from the fact that "we often travel, but always look forward to coming home to Sydney: our photogenic harbour, the fantastic food, concerts at Sydney Opera House and walks over the bridge.  Sydney Festival makes us look forward to this time of year, and our song reflects the heat, happiness and excitement of summer in Sydney."

Fusing interests in classical, world and electronic music, Gnome named their collective endeavour after Old World treasure-gathering wizards, a great tie-in with Sydney Festival’s aim to discover a new musical gem and share it with a broader audience.

Gnome will follow in the footsteps of Sufjan Stevens (one of their major musical influences), Reggie Watts, Beach House, The Middle East and Kaki King, who have all had their music featured as the Sydney Festival soundtrack.

The composition, selected by a judging panel led by Sydney Festival Director Lieven Bertels, with Zan Rowe (triple j), Dan Zilber (FBi Radio), Ralph van Dijk (Eardrum Australia), and Sydney Festival 2012 alumni, singer/songwriter Megan Washington, was selected from over 70 entries.