Grizzly Bear, Here We Go Magic& Kid Sam @ Enmore Theatre,Sydney (25/7/10)

Mon 2nd Aug, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The Enmore’s stage was cluttered with drum kits, amps and what appeared to be strung-up lights in jars filling up the front space like the apartment of untidy art-school musos. For all the mess, however, just two people emerged from the side of stage to commence the evening’s musical proceedings. It was the Ryan cousins – Keiran on guitar and vocals and Kishore on drums and percussion – doing their Kid Sam thing to a crowd that was initially uncertain how to react to them. With each track, however – mostly lifted from their AMP-nominated debut – they developed the atmosphere of their music and allowed more and more people to warm to it.

Of course, the set wasn’t without its faults – not playing signature track Down to the Cemetery was a damn shame, and a lot of the intricacies that are found in the songs were more often than not lost in an uneven mix in what might possibly be the biggest venue the duo have played thus far. Even still, it all came together for a moment of indie rock perfection for their closing number We’re Mostly Made of Water. A great exposure for one of the cooler lesser-known bands doing the Australian circuit right now.

New York’s Here We Go Magic, similarly, began with a blank canvas for most attendees. Building up soundscapes from something as simple as a whirring drone, the quintet slowly evolved into something quite peculiar and yet entirely listenable at the same time. Everyone in the band sang different parts of the main melody, which was an unusual but quite effective take on the vocals, while the music beneath it appeared to progress beyond your standard indie pop/rock conventions and into strangely jazzier territory.

Again, it took some warming to, and the band’s technical difficulties riddling most of the first half of their set was not much help to them at all. That said, they got better and better as you invested more and more attention into everything that they were doing. One of the more intriguing bands to visit the country recently, it was proof of their talents that there were more than a few attendees with the band’s LP tucked under their arm post-set.

Arriving nearly half an hour late is usually a pretty rude thing to do to someone – especially ones that have paid good money to see you on your visit that have arrived in droves. However the second Grizzly Bear strolled on and slunk into Veckatimest’s opener, Southern Point, however, all was instantly forgiven. The quartet stood side by side on stage as a united musical front, letting their harmonic indie pop soar throughout the theatre in all its multi-faceted glory.

From left to right, there was always something interesting happening throughout the band’s performance. Bassist Chris Taylor added in additional horns, clarinet, percussion and a particularly awesome vocal delay effect on Yellow House highlight Knife. Lead vocalist, guitarist and Stephen Fry doppelganger Ed Droste swayed about in time of the rhythm and delivered his smooth baritone across favourites such as Ready, Able and the closest thing the band may ever have to a hit single in Two Weeks. To his left was Daniel Rossen, the higher-range lead vocalist and guitarist who charmed the audience with wryly humourous banter and a stellar vocal performance, particularly on the While You Wait For The Others. Christopher Bear, rounded out the group with snappy percussive precision and shifting rhythms assisting in creating the exact right dynamics.

As just evidenced, the band are a force to be reckoned with purely on an individual basis – so for their forces to be combined was quite a spectacle for all involved. As the brilliantly set-up lights flashed in time to the music, it was hard not to be swept away by the band’s talent as a cohesive musical unit. They were able to faultlessly transition from a sweeping moment grandiose to stripped-bare balladry and still clutch upon our attention.

A primary example of this came near the conclusion of the band’s performance in which the expansive dream-like I Live With You was followed up by Veckatimest’s closer, Foreground. The crowd cheered in recognition of Rossen’s introductory piano line for the latter, but as soon as Droste’s voice rang out, the entire audience grew silent, in awe of the restrained beauty of the song. It turned out to be one of those live music “moments” that you’ll attempt to explain to your friends that weren’t there but you ultimately won’t be able to properly detail. In a way, you could really say that about the whole performance.

Check out the photos from the gig