Selfless Orchestra ‘Terra Nullius’ (LP, 2025)
Single released on Stock Records, 24th October 2025
Selfless Orchestra return in 2025 with their most ambitious and urgent work to date: Terra Nullius, a cinematic soundscape that confronts the deep fractures of Australia’s cultural identity, unearthing stories of dispossession, displacement, and resilience.
Released worldwide on 24 October via Stock Records, with an exclusive early live launch, featuring physical and digital sales, on Sunday, 19 October at Boorloo/ Perth’s Liberty Theatre as part of Strange Ball 2025.
Following their acclaimed 2020 debut, Great Barrier, Terra Nullius marks a bold new chapter for Selfless Orchestra, an ensemble shaped by time on Country and dedicated to amplifying stories at the intersection of art, justice, and truth.
The title, Terra Nullius, Latin for “nobody’s land”, references the colonial doctrine that denied the presence, rights, and sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This falsehood enabled the violent occupation of Country, the marginalisation of communities, and the ongoing desecration of the natural world. In exploring these legacies, Selfless Orchestra asks: “Are we still a land deemed devoid of humanity?”
“This project delves into the complex interplay between colonial legacies causing generational trauma among Australians and our current struggle with cultural identity…Terra Nullius looks at how we've lost touch with the profound connection between ourselves and the earth. It's a realisation that we don't possess the land; rather, the land possesses us.”
- Steven Alyian (guitarist & sound designer)
In a captivating musical and cinematic journey, the record explores themes such as the Maralinga Nuclear Bomb Tests, the struggles of refugees at Woomera Detention Centre, and the loss of ancient Aboriginal rock art.
Recorded live at Loop Studios and as part of the Barefoot Band Project in an abandoned train station in the WA goldfields, the record evokes a visceral energy. Strings, guitars, piano, synths, didgeridoo, drums, and handpans rise to create a space where pain can transform into possibility; whilst authentic voices of those who lived these realities, including Geoffrey Stokes and Sue Coleman-Haseldine, ground the work in lived experience and truth.
Blending orchestral post-rock with documentary filmmaking, Selfless Orchestra have crafted a performance that is both concert and requiem. An immersive journey through the themes of devastation and survival explored in Terra Nullius.
‘Terra Nullius’ on Bandcamp
Terra Nullius is a Latin phrase meaning “nobody’s land.” It became a brutal legal fiction used to justify the British colonisation of Australia—denying the sovereignty, knowledge, and presence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This lie underpinned the violent dispossession of land, culture and identity, creating a deep wound that continues to shape the social and ecological crises of today.
Drawing from fieldwork with remote Indigenous communities by the band members, Selfless Orchestra presents Terra Nullius—a bold new performance project and album that confronts Australia’s colonial legacy while offering a hopeful reimagining of connection to Country. From taking songs that were written in time spent on country with elders, it asks: what are the consequences of being severed from the land—and how do we begin to restore those bonds?
Unfolding across an hour-long live audiovisual performance, Terra Nullius guides the audience through stories of loss, injustice and resistance: from the Maralinga nuclear tests and the refugee internments of Woomera, to the desecration of sacred Aboriginal rock art. Woven throughout are documentary soundscapes, archival recordings and deeply emotive live instrumentation, revealing how the stories of this continent are interconnected by a need to listen—to land, to Elders, and to each other.
Making Terra Nullius - Video Series
Selfless Orchestra 'The Meaning of 'Terra Nullius' Making Terra Nullius EP01
Selfless Orchestra 'Indefinite Detention' - Making Terra Nullius EP02
Selfless Orchestra 'The Recording Process' - Making Terra Nullius EP03
Selfless Orchestra 'To Continue' with Sam Maher on Handpan - Making Terra Nullius EP04
Selfless Orchestra 'We All Bleed the Same' Auntie Sue's Original Recording - Making Terra Nullius EP05
Selfless Orchestra 'The Stories Within' - Making Terra Nullius EP06
MORE ABOUT SELFLESS ORCHESTRA
Selfless is a Post-Rock Orchestra featuring celebrated West Australian musicians who perform immersive live sets to cinematic visuals, creating vivid spaces in which hope and despair co-exist to inspire social and environmental justice. Selfless Orchestra features members of the Perth Symphony Orchestra and WA bands Last Quokka, Injured Ninja, Babayaga, Karnivool, Usurper of Modern Medicine and more. Their debut album, Great Barrier, released in 2020, explored the plight of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, raising funds to protect and restore the reef.
Selfless Orchestra is Steven Alyian (Guitar), Raymond Grenfell (Bass), Madeline Antoine (Violin), Sam Maher (Drums, Handpan), Nikki Dagostino (Keys), Camille Lalanne (Cello), Cara Grace Teusner-Gartland (Vocals), Zoe Brennan (Vocals), Si Mullumby (Didgeridoo), and Daniel Spriggs (Flutes).
CREDITS
released October 24, 2025
Produced by Steven Alyian
Performed by Selfless Orchestra
On this recording Selfless Orchestra is:
Steven Alyian - Guitars, Sound Design
Raymond Grenfell - Bass
Madeleine Antoine - Violin
Sam Maher - Drums, Handpans
Nikki Dagostino - Piano, Synths
Camille Lalanne - Cello
Cara Grace Teusner-Gartland - Vocals
Zoe Brennan - Vocals
Daniel Spriggs - Flutes
Si Mullumby - Didgeridoo
Featuring the voices of:
Geoffrey Stokes
Sue Coleman-Haseldine
Engineered by Arran O’Mara
Mixed by Kieran Kenderessy
Recorded live at Loop Studios, Perth, Australia
Track 6 Recorded at Barefoot Bands, Coolgardie Train Station and mixed by Drew Goddard
Overdubs and additional recording at Sumo Studios, Newcastle St, Galaxial Acid Studios
Mastered by William Bowden
Artwork by Hugh Faulkner
Released by Stock Records
SR022
Artwork / Photos
Photos by Adrian Thomson, Terry Chilvers, Steven Alyian