@ The Annandale Hotel, Paramatta Road
[12th August 2004]
Reviewed by Heath Mulholland
It's true hype sells records, gets the punter through the door, makes teenage kids justify flipping hamburgers. It also has the capacity to completely destroy a man or in this case 6.
In fact make that 7, myself included, on trial with 2 of my most cynically critical friends. The charge, relaying the hype. Having only had a couple of days to familiarise myself with the bands offerings, I was in great danger of being convicted of the crime.
Then there was light...and projection...and music. And with a potent combination of these things 6 men, an impeccable sense of balance, a blatent disregard for boundaries, a few hundred punters and one god fearing man, there was joy.
The often conventional rock format and melodic vocal failings of frontman Sam Herlihy, so prominent on the lost riots lp, were obliterated by the sheer weight and volume of this beautiful, decadent, forceful and melancholic block of live sound. Producer Ken Thomas (of Sigur Ros fame) no doubt did his darned best to capture this on the record, but some things are phyiscally impossible to grasp.
From the opening track, The Black Amnesias, any preconceived notions of what to expect were torn to pieces. Watching the strobe light cut through these 6 incredible musicians attacking their instruments was like watching a time lapse documentary depicting a seed growing into a flower. And the music the same.
Layer upon layer, petal upon petal - getting stabbed in the brain has never felt so beautiful and sweet.
It is possible for one to draw a range of meaningless and tainting post-rock comparisons, but there is no equivalent to anything. Draw your own conclusions.
I'll just say do yourself a favour, see this band live. And feel free to tell your friends about them, you wont be letting anybody down. |
