Australian composer Dale Cornelius will release What Is Carried, What Is Left Behind? in October 2026, bringing together string quartet, synthesizers and found sound across six tracks. Created with Melbourne-based Eclective Strings, the approximately 31-minute album explores memory, grief and renewal. It will be available in Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio and stereo, marking a personal new chapter for a composer widely known for his work in film and television.
The project’s beginnings can be traced to a late-night walk in Montalcino, Italy. Passing the Concattedrale di San Salvatore, Cornelius recorded a metal door moving in the wind. That unusual percussive sound became the central sonic motif of the title track and helped shape the wider album. Through Dolby Atmos, he has recreated the spatial experience of the recording, arranging the quartet and synthesizers around the listener.
Among the album’s most personal works is ‘A Whispered Dawn (Spencer’s Lullaby)’, written in 1999 when Cornelius’s first-born son was fighting for his life. Spencer underwent surgery in utero, was born at 27 weeks and spent three months in neonatal intensive care. The composition remained unrecorded for more than two decades before finding a place on this album. “Recording it now, alongside music written from that more honest place, is an act of reclamation,” Cornelius says.
The release follows a screen-composition career encompassing more than 90 international productions, including Mary & Max, Backtrack and The Doctor Blake Mysteries. Cornelius is also developing a 55-minute continuous live presentation of the album, combining string quartet, keyboards and sample manipulation with spoken word, lighting and video projection. Designed for festivals and curated concert series, the proposed performance will extend the project beyond its recorded form.