Dan Sultan, Gin Wigmore @ FlyBy Night Club, Perth (27/5/10)

Mon 31st May, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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Gin Wigmore began the musical portion of the evening. She is a vivacious little firecracker from New Zealand that makes sure her banter between songs is as entertaining as the music itself. On first hearing her voice it was striking that she sounded like a mixture of many different unique female singer-songwriters (e.g. Sia, Regina Spektor at time Kasey Chambers). A sweet, but raspy voice with a slight country twang at times.

As the set went on these comparisons were forgotten and you couldn’t help but smile as her great stage personality won you over. Most of her songs were about boys and love but were all quite unique with her taking up a ukelele for one; showing off her dance moves for another and behind the guitar for most. There was a bunch of New Zealanders at the front of the crowd that were crazy obsessed with her. It seems being so cute makes her a risk for stalkers.

Speaking of stalking, any woman in her right mind would consider shadowing the man of the hour, the sexy beast that is Dan Sultan. He can croon, he can swoon, he can attack his guitar with fervour, and he can shout his guts out (so much so the speakers couldn’t handle it). Sultan and band played a decent set of rock and or roll give or take some soul, rockabilly, country and blues.

Guitars were central and on these it was Sultan and his right hand man and musical partner Scott Wilson. If you didn’t know background to the band, it wasn’t clear on the night why Wilson was given a special introduction to the rest of the band. He does in fact share song writing duties with Sultan. He is also a gun on the guitar and gave his voice to some harmonies when required.

The band at first comprised of Wilson, Sultan, with a backing of drums, bass; and keys. They ripped into first song Goddess Love which is the first song on new album Get Out While You Can. And then the brass section entered, with a trumpeter and trombonist providing some extra energy and a big band feel. Wilson declared the next song I Like It was about “when there’s a bloke hanging round your old lady and you’ve gotta say clear out!”.

More great introductions to the songs continued through the night, which showed the diversity of the song writing, for example there was a song about not jumping out of a plane ( Fear of Flying ), a song against domestic violence ( Crazy ), a song about his hometown Old Fitzroy, about cars ( Cadillac and a Mustang ) and more (loneliness, leaving prison, self-harm). All are written with a real honesty and straightforwardness of emotion that lends itself to an intense storytelling power.

The band showcased a whole range of sounds, from ballads to rock and roll numbers to more country style hill-billy stylings to big band blasts from the brass. Sultan’s soulful husk of a voice matched it all so well and his nervous giggle just added a little something extra. The crowd, who surprisingly, were mostly over forty, were dancing and shouting, singing and clapping. At the end of the night the merch counter was busy with people snapping up Sultan’s recordings. So even if they were old, they were wise to know when they’re onto a good thing, such as this no-bullshit band, all of whom have got the musical chops to back up their sincerity.

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