Felicity Groom @ BeresfordUpstairs, Sydney (3/12/11)

Tue 6th Dec, 2011 in Gig Reviews

“My name is Felicity Groom and I’m about to take you on a little journey.”

Perth-born folk/pop 60s lovechild of Nick Cave and PJ Harvey did take us on that journey, hitting the spotlight with her wondrous and quizzical melancholy sounds. Hauntingly beautiful as always with her mysterious-sounding vocals, she produced a set-list in which she played everything from fun, up-beat 60s pop-rock melodies in the form of Siren Song and Finders & Keepers to slower, darker moods.

Groom showed off her multi-instrumental talents Upstairs at the Surry Hills Beresford by picking up a plethora of instruments throughout her show, including the guitar, harp, and tambourine, the latter of which was beautifully intertwined through 39 Ways to Leave Your Lover. She took the Beresford through an immersion of ethereally sweet melodies, darkened by the dirty-rock influence of a male backing singer seeping between the notes.

In a way resembling the likes of Beach House’s Victoria LeGrand without the electronic influence, Groom takes you by the hand and strokes you gently, as though you were sitting in the midst of a field making daisy chains, puffing smoke rings in the shape of flowers. Her performance chilled the room and created a relaxed, laid-back vibe as she moved in and out of quiet folk songs and threw in a few pop chick genres.

Fragilely sweet, Felicity Groom’s lyrics can make your heart ache with a longing for more of her hippie-folk pipes and soft Woodstock-princess aura. I just don’t think her audience gave her the attention she truly deserved.