Responsible for the stunning composition and sound design for 月を見る夜 Moongazing, Jack Whu 胡杰克 talks us through process and intentionally unlearning.
How do you begin?
When making music, I’m an extremely visual person, so whatever I’m trying to convey visually in my mind becomes the anchor for the sounds I start to create.
My compositional process always comes with HEAPS of layering (sometimes it’s a bit too turbo so I have to scale it down).. but I love to experiment with how each element interacts, adds colour or shifts the emotional tone.
To be honest, I never really know what the end product is going to sound like, which is both exciting and scary. But I guess in that uncertainty, that’s where my most honest work emerges.
Who and/or what inspires you?
My background is in classical music, so I can’t deny that it has definitely shaped parts of my practice and inspires me at some capacity… but I wouldn’t say it’s what guides my work now. Electronic composition feels like a completely different universe.
I think these days, what really inspires me now is the people around me. I’m lucky to have so many incredibly talented artist friends, and seeing their work in whatever form or collaborating with them pushes me creatively.
What are you experimenting with in 月を見る夜 Moongazing?
It’s interesting, I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and when I studied flute, everything’s about precision, control, clean technique..I’m now intentionally unlearning that. For this project, I’m leaning into unconventional textures and those raw, unexpected sounds. I’m really enjoying exploring the space where traditional and contemporary meet. I’m also working with my insanely talented friend, Hannah Wu who’s collaborating on sound and featuring on Guzheng. We’re going to be experimenting with flute + Guzheng + synths, and I’m excited to see what happens.
JACK WHU 胡杰克 (they/them)
COMPOSER AND SOUND DESIGNER
A queer performer and sound artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Their work is shaped by the push and pull of diaspora and queerness, where tradition is both refuge and resistance. They move incognito through quiet spaces — through walks, through water sounds, in their bedroom, where they shape sounds. By subverting traditional forms, they transform the western flute from a symbol of colonial influence into a vessel for expressing their fluid identity and diasporic narrative as a non-binary Shanghai artist. By bending and reshaping the flutes voice, in-between shifting microtones, layers of glitches and breath, 胡杰克's practice is a reclamation of space that holds both grief, joy and radical softness. You’ll always see them improvising live to their music on an amplified flute.
Hear samples of Jack's work: https://soundcloud.com/jack-whu
LA MAMA PRESENTS Antipodes Theatre Company's 月を見る夜 Moongazing
4-22 February 2026
FIND OUT MORE AND BOOK 月を見る夜 Moongazing