The Middle East andStereoflower @ NorfolkBasement 2/8/09

Fri 7th Aug, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Upon looking at the influences section of Stereoflower’s MySpace page, one can get a fairly good understanding of what this tremendous band is all about. Some of the influences are delicate, some are overt, but mostly it’s all awesome. The only noodle scratchers amongst them are probably Mozart and, ummm, Dostoyevsky? The Dr Seuss influence is instantly apparent.

The band’s jangly, psychedelic pop was on show tonight for, by their standards, an irregular audience. The majority of the punters, save for the band’s manager, his lovely girlfriend (Happy Birthday Norto!) and a couple of senior citizens, were not there to see Stereoflower, but rather were there to witness an intimate evening with one of Australia’s brightest stars, The Middle East.

Listening to people in the crowd describe the band, one could be forgiven for lumping them in with bands that fit the criteria of being nice. Some might suggest that this wouldn’t be a bad thing, but in reality this would be an appraisal falling significantly short of the mark. Witnessing a live performance by the Middle East suggests there are darker forces at work: there is a quiet angst and an inner torment, dressed beautifully in subtle, yet engaging arrangements.

Much of the music on show tonight had yet to see the recorded light of day, only three tunes taken from their The Recordings of the Middle East EP, and provided ample reason for anticipating forthcoming releases. As the band took the stage, fervent applause made way for quiet anticipation, Lonely being greeted with restrained delight. The song’s exquisitely haunting guitar line, supported with brooding funeral parlor keyboards, produced the air of an empty heart, creating a backdrop for the stunning vocal interplay and building to a howling crescendo. The audience’s explosion of excitement following the song was quite astounding.

The fingerpicked bucolic splendor of The Darkest Side belied the songs melancholic leanings. The group’s vocal ensemble carrying a certain reflective intensity that could only stem from such lyrics as it’s the darkest side of my heart that dies when you come to me/and it’s the golden ticket I win when you kill my enemies. The vocals seemed to lift the weight of the lyrics without rendering them impotent.

Blood was the last of the recognizable songs of the evening. Dreamy and reverb drenched, it was lifted by a delightful glockenspiel melody and carried by wistful and aching vocals speaking of an irregular family life. Building to a climax of trumpet and euphoric chorused singing, the performance left many feeling like they’d witnessed something akin to a fire in an arcade.

The completion of Blood found one particular punter seeking a song she could dance to? A request that was rebuffed, politely, with a response of let me think…NO! The final number of the evening, My Baby, was assisted by what could only be described as a lesson in intimate gig etiquette, rowdy punters treated with disdain and whispered shhhhhhhh’s, the band being happy to oblige, waiting patiently for the ignorant to be reigned in.

A simple thank you and goodnight signaled that the show was over. No encore, because it wasn’t really necessary, the audience having got way more than they had bargained for and were totally enamored with the Middle East because of it.