Songs

Songs

Before headliners Kes Band come on for a short and splintered set that challenges the more softly played strains of the wonderful Kes Band II that they’re apparently launching, Sydney’s Songs offer the small crowd assembled tonight a tight and joyous entree. Live, the band’s debt to Sonic Youth and shoegaze is more audible than the Flying Nun sound of their NZ heritage. The sparkling, jangly pop tracks that are fully reined in on debut album Songs are present here, but only really as a blueprint for far more muscular excursions into extended, droning jams. Drummer Steve Uren keeps things lockstep as the band just sit on songs, riding them out, giving Jeff Burch plenty of time to wail away on the feedback.

But fret not, fellow haters of what is so often musical masturbation (ie. extended feedback and/or jams). What makes tonight’s set such a blast is the way Songs rough up their pop numbers while still keeping their carefree, catchy vibe intact, giving odd optimism to even the most beaten tracks. That, and the fact the band are incredibly tight, fully in control even as they let loose. Witness the way they stop on a pin at the end of the 10-minute plus ‘Just An Idea’, or the fucking miraculous way Ela Stiles’ vocals blend with and echo the accompanying riff of ‘Retreat’, drifting into and out of one another as they melt in beautiful synchronicity.

These were just a few blissful moments in a set full of them, and by the end of it, I’m singing along and bopping away to a band I’d never heard before like they were old mates.

by Lawson Fletcher