Thea Astley’s novel The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow not only traffics in the torpor of far-north Queensland, its story mirrors the path of a tropical thunderstorm – as does Clams Casino’s Instrumental Mixtape 2.
In the immediate aftermath, the air is washed clean, but you’re left with a lingering sense that this earthly violence may recur – and often it does the very next day.
Finally, it rains: hard, drenching drops, which bring relief from the searing heat of the day. The atmosphere charges with static as lightning throws bolts from the heavens and thunder growls in surround sound. The air thickens and menacing clouds knit together overhead. To experience summer in the tropics is to know the build-up and release of its thunderstorms.
