Nicole Skeltys | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | Artificial |
| Origin | Brisbane, Australia |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Sony, Shock, Festival Mushroom, Creative Vibes, Psy-Harmonics, Inertia, Uh Oh, Nephilim, Mana, MUK |
| Website | nicoleskeltys |
Nicole Skeltys is an Australian composer. From 1993 to 2003 she was part of B(if)tek , an electronica and dance act. Skeltys also released electronic music under the name Artificial during this period and was a member of Clan Analogue. [1] In 2002, she was the writer for the webcomic Pigeon Coup. [2] She co-composed the soundtrack for the first season of Lonely Planet TV series Lonely Planet Six Degrees. [3] In 2004, Skeltys expanded her musical repertoire beyond pure electronica . [4] She established a Melbourne-based band Dust, [5] consisting of vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, and which has been described as a "mixture of country twang, melancholy folk and urban scrawl, all with psychedelic overtones". [6] In late 2007, she established a psychedelic folk duo called The Jilted Brides with American filmmaker and photographer Tanya Andrea Stadelmann, [5] and in 2008 and 2009 took up a number of artist residencies across the United States. [7] In 2009, Skeltys became an artist in residence at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. [8] Nicole produced a short music mockumentary, [9] which won a platinum REMI award for group music video production in the 2012 Houston Worldfest international film festival. [10]
In 2011, Skeltys and Byron Scullin produced the soundtrack to the documentary film A Life Exposed. [11] In 2013, Skeltys released the compilation album Citizens United, [5] [12] followed by Deal with Your Disenchantment in 2018. [13] About the latter album, she has been quoted as saying: "I wanted to reimagine myself looking at the world through Bob Dylan's eyes in the '60s/early '70s – only I'm a 21st-century woman, and the political and social issues are the ones we are dealing with now." [14] After release of Deal with your Disenchantment, Skeltys performed at venues in London, [15] the Northcote Social Club [14] and the Ealing Blues Festival. [16]
In 2019, while living in London, Skeltys became interested in local artist-activists who were critiquing financialization, highlighting some damaging social impacts of post-80s banking and finance practices. [17] Skeltys was inspired to start researching and composing a rock opera about London’s finance industry. The resultant work Canary Wharf: the Rock Opera was released as two albums (soundtrack [18] and full theatrical work [19] versions) in early 2023, with the support of La Trobe University where Skeltys is undertaking a Phd in creative arts. [20] Her film [21] to accompany the album premiered in Melbourne at Thornbury Picture House in April 2023. [22]
