The band, which consists of five ambitious musicians, has spent years experimenting with sound underwater with the help of scientists and deep sea divers. Having consulted with craftspeople, they even developed their own custom-made instruments, which allow them to perform submerged in tanks of water.
"Some of them are based on old ideas, like the rotacorda — a string instrument where a wheel touches the strings to make them play, or the crystallophone — a glass instrument that where I play on tuned glass bowls that rotate," said Robert Karlsson, co-founder of the band.
Karlsson explained that they also have their own kind of water organ, which they named the hydraulophone; it’s “the only kind of instrument that uses vibrating water to produce sound."
Their show, entitled “AquaSonic,” was first performed in the Netherlands in 2016, and now they are planning another concert from January 6-9 at Carriageworks at the Sydney Festival in Australia.
"It is very challenging to play live music underwater," Karlsson told Mashable. "This obstruction creates also a vast presence by the performers… You cannot just think of something else. And I think this is something the audience can feel."
As for the reason why they chose to play underwater, Karlsson said that water was something that everyone had in common, "beyond religion or culture”.
Karlsson’s co-founder, Laila Skovmand, confessed that she came up with the extraordinary idea in 2002, while experimenting with her own voice, having filled a bowl with water and playing music around it.
"A couple of years later, in a European artist laboratory, she got a chance to try singing totally submerged and also trying some instruments," said Karlsson. "It didn’t sound so good, but she got intrigued and fascinated by this new element in terms of music."
Some might ask, “How do they play without scuba tanks?” The answer is pretty simple.
"We come up and breathe between the phrases," explained Karlsson. "Some places it’s carefully planned in the composition, other places it’s more free."
