Seekae, Ghoul @ Manning Bar,Sydney (16/04/11)

Wed 20th Apr, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Sydney’s usually-four-but-currently-three experimental piece Ghoul took to the sold out Manning Bar stage and the dance floor filled out almost immediately. While vocalist and – it’s fair to say – mastermind of the group, Ivan Vizintin, explained that their bass player is currently overseas, it felt like there was more than a band member missing from the set.

An extra element of excitement, soul, oomph, whatever you want to call it, seemed lacking, and it made for a slightly underwhelming stage presence. Despite the characteristically unique and strong vocals, it seemed that most of the interesting aspects were coming from the pre-recorded backing track on the laptop. That’s not to say that Ghoul’s sound is uninteresting – though unconventional and abstract, it is often mystic, dynamic and atmospheric – but somehow this failed to translate on stage tonight.

Some tracks gave us a glimpse at Ghoul at their best – Swimming Pool was definitely a highlight. Unfortunately, they were forced to cut their set short, due to a mic blowing up or something. This was a shame because the set was really picking up with each song, so there was an unsettled, unsatisfied feeling left in the air after their abrupt departure. Not for too long, however.

The seemingly endless smoke that engulfed the stage teased the crowd for a few moments before finally revealing Seekae on stage. They needed no announcement – the extended introduction gradually built up to a thundering bassline, with a seamless transition into Gnor. Literally from the second they began, the Sydney three-piece were mesmerising.

Considering their tracks are a complex and delicate web of countless layers and samples, there was always a fear that it may be hard to recreate live; but they were endlessly engaging – their live energy easily mirrored, if not surpassed, the sensory overload that is their latest record, +DOME.

The stage was dissected by three laser beams, and the sporadic strobe lights highlighted the faceless shadows of each band member hovering over their respective piece of the stage. To say Seekae are a well-oiled machine is an understatement – though John Hassell, George Nicholas and Alex Cameron rarely even look at each other mid-song, they are never for a moment out of sync, delivering each track with meticulous precision. The smooth blend of live instruments, synths, experimental vocal equipment, as well as the vigorous assault on live drums, made for a constantly dynamic performance.

They delivered a diverse range of tracks, without ever losing momentum or sounding disjointed. Songs like Mingus and Blood Bank show their unique ability to create electro music that is strongly emotive, with more placid synth sounds and distorted, often haunting vocal samples used in a lot of the melodies. A heavier, droning beat introduced the more hardcore electro track Yodal, and there were also moments that flirted with hip-hop, dub-step and those cute Nintendo sounding beats.

The trio also showed their professionalism, when a false fire alarm was triggered that apparently no one could fucking stop for about 20 minutes. However, they pursued without more than a polite request for the sirens to be turned off, pushing the disturbance to the back of everyone’s minds.

After exhausting nearly all of their hits from +DOME, plus some old songs, Seekae gave us a sampled-up cover of White Town’s Your Woman. After closing with 3, they returned to the stage to deliver an encore performance of Centaur, from their 2008 album The Sound of Trees Falling on People.

This set convincingly showcased the intelligence, creativity and complexity of Seekae’s music. The end of the night was one of those precious moments where you feel blissful but almost sad; anxious about how long it will be before you can witness such a performance again.