Air, New Buffalo & Resort @Kings Park, Perth (28/3/08)

Mon 31st Mar, 2008 in Gig Reviews

The evening started early with gates opening at 5pm admitting people with picnics and plenty of time to wind down and relax after work with local chill-out band Resort kicking off their set at 5:45pm. Resort played the perfect accompaniment to a picnic dinner in the park on a balmy summer evening.

Their soulful electro-lounge-jazz should be used to sell wine, since by about halfway through their set, most of the early-birds had decided a bottle or two was exactly what they needed, and, on tip toe, trekked up the duck-shit-mined hill to the bar and back again along pathways ingeniously spray-painted onto the lawn. The stage was built over the Pioneer Woman’s Memorial in the Lake, with the audience seated on the opposite bank looking over the water to the stage, with a tiny mosh area set up to the right. It was a perfect setting, although the ducks must have thought it odd that so many people chose to sit in what was clearly their toilet.

At 7pm, New Buffalo appeared on stage, banging furiously on the piano for a little while before she began her set. New Buffalo has been widely acclaimed for her simple and poetic songs, about love and beauty and the little things that colour a life and usually go unnoticed. The audience was ambivalently attentive, clapping at the end of each song, but not really giving her more than their divided attention, except when she dedicated a song to some friends in the audience who were getting married soon.

She worked her way through a good number of songs from her back catalogue, and of course, Recovery from The Last Beautiful Day. She also managed to fit in much of the album Somewhere, Anywhere most notable among them; Cheer Me Up Thankyou, the first single from the album, as well as ones to watch, Misery and Mountains, Arrows and Bows and You’ve Gone My Friend.. After a while the songs seemed a bit same-ish, with so many songs in cut-time signature and lack of any aural variety, the audience seemed to lose interest.

New Buffalo’s voice and lyrics are indisputably beguiling, but it becomes difficult to hear nuances with nothing to break the pattern. Her performance was somewhat varied, including one song sung a capella, one playing a classical guitar (not particularly well, and with a plectrum!) and once switching on some pre-recorded music and singing along, but the change of positioning didn’t do enough to change the feel of the music. Perhaps a drummer and bassist would augment her already inspired work, and she wouldn’t look so silly standing on stage saying “Hi, I’m New Buffalo” when she doesn’t even remotely resemble a buffalo.

New Buffalo plays most of the instruments on her albums herself, and is clearly a talented musician, but it is difficult to sing as well as she does, and play an instrument at the same time, let alone ten, so on this tour she is joined on stage by Jessica Says (Jessica Venables), an excellent songwriter in her own right, who traded with precision between cello, what looked like a child’s xylophone, and numerous percussive instruments as well as providing beautiful back up vocals.

The sound check was covered by a – œset’ by DJ Funky Frog which was really just someone playing his favourite playlist with a doof beat, and then, smoke filled the stage area, a hush fell over the crowd, and into a wash of purple light strutted the French duo in shiny-white-flares… nice! As the opening strains of Radian floated out over the excited crowd, the conversation stopped entirely, and every eye was on the stage, including the ducks that had been wandering among the picnic-ers who returned to the lake for the best seats in the house.

It took three songs for Jean-Benoît Dunckel to find his voice; partway through Cherry Blossom Girl it looked as though he was going to sing off key the whole time. But clearly, it was nerves, (or fear of ducks) that had put him momentarily off his game. Once he got going, he was outstanding. He had a rack of synthesisers either side of him, and a mixer on top, and he managed (with ample help, it must be added, from Vincent Taurelle playing keys in the background) to have everything going at once, fading in and out in perfect time, and recreating the keyboard sound captured on their albums to perfection.

Nicolas Godin, on the other hand, created a far more bass-driven sound, giving the music a much more rock edge that forced you to nod your head, or tap your foot. His robot voice used for Kelly Watch the Stars (among others) was a hit when he introduced himself as “Ah Fwenche wobot” as was his halting accented English which made all the women, and at least half of the men love him…or was that his tight white jeans?

The lighting was spectacular. The selection of songs, perfect. They played at least one song from all of their mainstream albums, including Napalm Love from the new release, Pocket Symphony. They left the stage after 45 minutes, but the crowd was not accepting that as the end of the show. In true Perth audience form, they applauded, and cheered, but knowing there was an encore, were not going to beg, just dug in their heels and waited expectantly for Air to return to the stage, which they did after five minutes or so.

The second half of the set was more dance-oriented than the first half, and the tiny, tiny mosh pit, which had gradually filled up over the course of the first act, was suddenly full to bursting. Godin asked, “Are you ready to be sexy?” and the opening chords to Sexy Boy began, and those not paying attention, sprinted to the mosh pit to be a part of the writhing, wriggling mass.

Moon Safari is arguably the most influential electronica album of the decade, and by far and away the highlight of the night was the super-extended version of Moon Safari’s La Femme d’Argent (The Silver Lady) which was improvised into a disorienting, mesmerising, climactic crescendo that made you forget the duck shit and follow the lights to where the music was. Too soon it was over, and they were gone. We were left tantric and wanting; unsated, but only because we didn’t realise it could be that good.