I was first inspired to sing when I heard some Tuvan and Monglian throat singing. I then heard some Inuit and Chukchi throat singing. Then it was a hop, skip and a jump to extreme metal and an ongoing exploration of extra-normal voice.
I’m also influenced by industrial music, trance and drone. Insight meditation practice, urban shamanism and chaos magick. Feminist, queer and trans practice. And Discordianism.
As a researcher, I engage with feminist, queer and trans politics. As well as intersectionality and ethical engagements with postmodern culture(s). I’m particularly interested in writing against normative narratives.
A critical engagement with the ethics of performance, cultural appropriation and privilege form the core of my praxis. I use the moniker Sage Pbbbt for vocal performance work and my name Sage J Harlow for writing.
In 2019 I completed my PhD. ‘Giving voice to the extra-normal self with the extra-normal voice: Improvised exploration through the realms of shamanic chaos magick, insight meditation and gender performance’. You can read it here if you like.
I write text scores.
Sometimes I play the drums. Sometimes I play the theremin. Sometimes I play bass. (I also write weird, finger-picky, classical-guitary-sounding things for solo acoustic bass guitar.)
Pronouns: she/her.
I recognise the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of this country. I pay respects to the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation. The traditional custodians of the land where I live—Boorloo (Perth, Western Australia).