Hope Sandoval @ The Astor,Perth (28/06/10)

Thu 1st Jul, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The Astor Theatre seemed to be purposefully built for an occasion such as this. Art Deco coupled with plush cinema seating set the perfect tone for an evening where Ms Sandoval and her Warm Inventions could finally release their sound to a virginal Perth audience.

At the rather unendearing time of 8pm, Dirt Blue Gene (a Warm Inventions sideproject) strolled onstage, casually dressed as if they had just arrived from a good old American ho-down and launched into a woozy psych-country sound where the songs were glided by a blissful lap-steel and slide heavy guitar leanings that floated around the cinema. Glacial, haunting keyboards hung perilously in the background throughout the set adding a certain Pink Floyd circa- Meddle eeriness to the proceedings.

After a quick change-over, Dirty Three’s Mick Turner delivered a semi-improvised guitar loop-a-thon with ex-Laughing Clowns’ Jeff Wegener adding loose and languid percussion set to a series of animated and film loops beamed onto the cinema’s main screen. Whilst not a scorching performance by any standard; it was befitting of its time, providing an interesting and somewhat provocative segue into the main act of the evening.

In almost complete darkness, Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions graced the stage and despite the lack of visual presence from the band, (this was more than compensated for by a flurry of beautiful film loops that accompanied the set) Sandoval’s voice climbed and swooned over the expectant crowd. Her voice is a priceless gem that has not changed since her days with Mazzy Star. Drummer and creative partner Colm O’Ciosoig gave a stunning performance, proving that he is more than capable of playing in both the world’s loudest rock band (My Bloody Valentine) and in what is perhaps the world’s most restrained band (The Warm Inventions.)

Sandoval addressed the audience between songs with lucious samples of guitars, vocals and found sounds, adding to a wall of dreamy disengagement between the band and audience as the evening progressed. Occasionally taking to a xylophone, Sandoval’s set drew from her latest record Through the Devil Softly and highlighted that her voice is still in a league of its own and can draw deep into the well of audience emotion without the need for an atypical musical performance. On this evening, the adoring audience played by Hope’s rules and bathed in it accordingly.

Thanks to Luz Gallardo for the photo