Darren Hanlon @ Fly-by Night,Perth (21/08/10)

Thu 26th Aug, 2010 in Gig Reviews

While most of the nation were eagerly awaiting the results of exercising their democratic rights, and others were lamenting the tragic death of Charles Haddon of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, a small pocket of people in Fremantle were enjoying the linguistic brilliance and quaint melodies of Darren Hanlon and his honorarily named band, The Well Hung Parliament.

Hanlon was accompanied by some wonderful musicians: Cory Gray, a pretty damn special keyboard and trumpet player who managed to go from a groovy keyboard solo, and then picked up his trumpet to play a gorgeous little melody without missing a beat; bassist Mark Monnone (The Lucksmiths) who seemed as comfortable playing some of the duller, pace-keeping rhythms as he was with the complex bass melodies; and drummer, Bree Van Reyk who played minimalistic beats with skill and precision, and was a pretty lovely singer too. Hanlon was also joined by guest singer/guitarist Shelly Short who had a gorgeous, haunting voice that harmonised beautifully with Hanlon. She also opened the show with her own music, which was even more beautiful, but unfortunately seemed a little repetitive and dull. It might have been nice if you were sitting in a lounge drinking a glass of red (and I guess some of the people there were doing just that) but for standing around actively watching, it was easy to get restless.

For those of us who were unfamiliar with some of Hanlon’s back-catalogue, a request from the crowd for Cast of Thousands gave us the opportunity to hear a surprisingly poignant break-up song, which may have actually had some of us surreptitiously wiping away a few tears as he uttered “I’m glad there’s still a part of you reserved for me”

Hanlon used the opportunity to really showcase new album, I Will Love You at All; rather than just playing a couple of new songs in the midst of back-catalogue. This was no problem at all as he had plethora of gorgeous new songs to choose from. His latest offering seems very much bent in the direction of aging and questioning what it’s all about. Particularly beautiful was Folk Insomnia, which brought back those pesky tears.

Hanlon’s genius is how he can play with words in a way that that allows him to link crosswords to a failed relationship in a way that is so natural. His most recent single All These Things has him rhyming “fondue” and “no nutritional value”; it’s just so unexpectedly funny, and sung so innocently that you can’t help but grin and wait for the next surprising lyrical twist.

There was a moment of mixed pride and shame when he started playing 80s Georgio Moroder hit Together in Electric Dreams and some of us knew all the words. You could definitely gauge the average age of most of the audience, as they finally recognised the chorus, cheered and sang along.

It took a really concentrated effort not to compare him with Russell Crowe; they look so similar! We promise not to hold that against him though, especially since in the immortal words of Frenzal Rhomb “Russell Crowe’s band’s fuckin’ pile of shit”, and Hanlon seems like such a down-to-earth, nice guy, and his music is wonderful.

The encore of course included Punk’s Not Dead, much to the delight of the crowd; but you could tell he was a little tired of playing it; and since it was released in 2002, it’s not really a surprise. Omitted favourites included Happiness is A Chemical and Couch Surfing [insert sad face here], but after 5 albums and 3 EPs of awesome tunes to choose from, you can’t have everything, and as a consolation, we were lucky enough to hear a brand new song, 17, all about the harrowing experience of navigating a foreign country on public transport.