it's no secret that vibrant brisbane five piece charlie mayfair is one of my favourite bands. i first heard the watch my hands ep [released april 2010] just over twelve months ago and was wonderfully surprised to discover, shortly after, that they were as good, if not better, live. sadly, i missed sunset sounds, which saw the band begin 2011 on a glorious high. they are currently working on and recording their second ep with producer matt redlich, who has worked with the likes of ball park music, tim carroll and hungry kids of hungary. add to this the fact that their second single, 'tell her' [released june 2011], has been included on the second tunes for change compilation the seed album, where they melt into the company of nick cave, lady of the sunshine [angus stone] and the waifs. not bad company, really. not wholly unexpected, either. charlie mayfair is a band steeped in talent.
so i was delighted to swoon along to the first show of charlie mayfair's 'tell her' single tour, at the zoo on 26.08.11. it had been a while since my last live gig, so i was wearing an air of joy and anticipation.
they opened the sold out show in a manner unfamiliar to me. lighting was stripped from the stage and charlie mayfair came out in black; i am used to a little colour in their on-stage fashion. the show, however, was heavy with stage lights, which bathed the band in, and silhouetted them against, a backdrop of red, yellow and blue.
true to the opening of a charlie mayfair gig, the start of the first track, 'hollow truth', built up through slow instrumental layering until lead vocalist hannah shepherd's voice kicked in. following this, four new songs had the crowd excited. highlights included 'delicate rain', which was punctuated by the big drums that charlie mayfair have become know for, while 'stones throw' was simple, highlighted by guitar and acoustic harmony.
with the opening notes of 'if i fell down', the crowd erupted. and so began the wonderful smile-saturated sing-a-long that you can't go to a charlie mayfair gig without being wrapped up in. the set changed mood when the band swept into the crowd for an unplugged, acoustic version of 'when i get home', after which they popped back on stage to cover 'heart it races', by melbourne's quirky pop outfit architecture in helsinki [gosh they are great live].
and then came the song we had come to hear: 'tell her'. i had been interested to see how the song translated into a recorded version, and then whether there were any changes once they played it live again. a week prior to the launch, i had listened to it very loud in a serious sound system. and the more i listen to it, the greater it grows. oh! those drums! incredible. i felt there was an intensity in the song that night that i had not heard before, hinting that it is the most important song hannah has written to date. ['tell her' clip here.]
finally, an encore of a drum-laden 'blue water' pulsated with high energy. and that was the end of another delightful charlie mayfair music experience. thankfully, in contrast to the venue for the 'if i fell down' single launch, the acoustics at the zoo were great.
there's a big pool of musicians in brisbane and the 'extended family' like to join others for a gig. for the launch, charlie mayfair were joined on stage by three lovely blokes: danni ogilvie [plays drums with hannah and emma in emma louise's band], jono kirkham [from yesyou] and ritchie daniell.
there are a number of great five-plus-members bands coming out of queensland at the moment, who weave female-rich harmonies through multi-instrumental music. dare i say it, there's a sort of cutesy folk thing going on. and after watch my hands, charlie mayfair could have fallen into this trap. instead, the band is heading in a different direction with their second ep. the softness of the vocals on watch my hands is still evident, but there is a slightly rockier folk pop thing going on. i think what makes charlie mayfair stand out is that hannah's voice is clear, classic and distinct, and doesn't get lost in dave di marco's co-singing or irena lysuik's backing vocals. instead, the band's harmonies burst with sexiness and clarity. and i love the big drums that punctuate many of their tracks. oh, those drums.
No comments:
Post a Comment