Jack Ladder @ Hyde Park Hotel(18/7/09)

Tue 21st Jul, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Teeth and Tongue kicked off what was to be a subtly spectacular evening at the Hydey. In their touring guise, the band played stripped back renditions of tracks taken from Monobasic, the songs being forced to swim without the aid of the, at times, lush album arrangements.

There Is A Lightness To My Bones, replete with Kate Bush-isms, demonstrated a quirk to the song-craft, the melody bouncing over the drone guitar foundation. By now audience members were exchanging looks of equal parts curious fascination and genuine entertainment. The set closed with Stacey Come Over, an alternative bop with vocal theatrics and an utterly spellbinding lead outro.

Kid Sam reside in space and simplicity. There’s an understated urgency to the songs, guitar and drum parts rigid, but somehow playful and completed by a beautiful, expansive voice. A Black Ant embodied all these attributes, an escalating ride driven by shifting percussion dynamics.

Down To The Cemetery, complete with its wok percussion, was an audience highlight. Kieran Ryan’s morbid musings displaying his full range, punctuated with brief overdriven guitar stabs. Jodie Makes A Fire meant Kid Sam went out with a bang. Their most “rock!” rock song, an intense experience built on a driving, fuzzed out guitar line and a wavering vocal. Unfortunately, their set came to an early end due to “fucked” pedals, but it didn’t matter because Kid Sam had won another audience.

Jack Ladder is a curious beast. Vocally somewhere between Antony Hegarty and Bryan Ferry, with a musical bent somewhere on the Tom Waits continuum. His introduction via the inexplicable Kirin J Callinan suggested nothing to the uninitiated, but, as we were soon to find out, he would take Tim Rogers’ songs to a higher plain.

Visually, they are quite a spectacular band: The Sheriff on bass, the Dali-cum-Curtis aesthetic of guitarist Callinan, a demon-fusion master on drums and a lanky mofo who just stole the show. Love is Gone took about a minute to become apparent, dripping in delay and feedback, this mid-tempo redux of the album title track left punters spellbound. If there was any doubt as to the talent of this motley crew, it had surely been dispelled.

A hootin’ crowd welcomed Barber Shop, displaying the richness of Jack’s voice, a soulful croon morphing into a throaty bark. It really shouldn’t have worked: smooth soul guitar phrasing juxtaposed with atonal guitar and jarring percussion flourishes, yet somehow it did. The Hydey faithful were treated to a special newie, Asleep Alone Under the Ice, a simple bass throb coloured by a combination of heated soul vox and unhinged atmospherics.

Case Closed was slowed down to menacing effect. A mellow, plaintive moment with the subtle vindictive snarl of a jilted lover. Following a declaration that the set had come to an end, an elder statesman/pisshead promptly got on the mic and suggested, quite correctly, that the punters deserved a bit more. The icing on the cake was a slow grinding soul rant, but in truth, no more was needed.

Every person in attendance had a story to tell. Something special had happened in a little, unassuming pub in North Perth that will no doubt trigger “well I saw him before he was popular” one-upmanship. Next time he comes it wont nearly be this cosy.