The Thousands

Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, built Compass Point Studios in 1977. The isolation of Nassau in the Bahamas made it the perfect location, removed from the distractions of New York and London. Bands such as Talking Heads, Roxy Music and Dire Straights flocked to record seminal albums. In 1980 AC/DC recorded Back in Black, the biggest selling album of all time, at the beachside complex.

Melbourne artist and musician Darren Sylvester‘s interest in the place was sparked by reading liner notes to a number of loved albums that had been recorded at Compass Point. This led him to visiting the studio, only to discover it had been shut down. “After 35 years I was three months too late.” The official statement about the closure reads, “A series of incidents and socio-political based happenings made it untenable to continue business in The Bahamas.” Read between the lines and it’s more weak economy, crime, drugs and a questionable government.

Sylvester’s work has often mixed gaudy signs of consumerism with personal narratives. Compass Point is more direct and observational. His shots capture the exoticism and decadence of this late-seventies complex alongside the reality of its decline. Bright flamingos, cocktails and flowers contrast with large security gates guarding grand houses and faded banana lounges slumping next to swimming pools. Some of the best photographs are of the wood-panelled studio itself. Gold records hang above empty booth tables set with bottles of hot sauce.

Compass Point is beautiful and a true document of the landscape surrounding the myth-making studio.