Muscles
Spectrum, Sydney

Muscles grew up. Six months ago his performances were still rough and full of nervous energy. The feeling on the dance floor was of being caught up in something genuinely unpredictable. At Spectrum this week his set was much more polished and confident, though no less energetic. Even in a support slot he had half the crowd dancing – in a most atrocious and unabashed way – and after each song he shouted a quick welcome to those still filing in. His constant smile, once awkward and hidden in a blush, looked full of joy.

Chris opened with a new track, ‘My Friend Richard’, which is to mainstream dance music what The Streets is to hip-hop: swept along by toneless, monologue-style vocals that bleed together over a wonderful beat. The set-list was designed for a club. “This is my house track,’ Chris said before one song, and it didn’t contradict him. Despite its rapturous reception, ‘One Inch Badge Pin’ sounded a little lifeless. Over-played and smoothed-out, its cult success seems to have wearied the singer before his audiences.

The new self-assurance suits Muscles well. The last track was titled something like ‘Dear Muscles, I Love You’, with a chorus including the line “I want to have your babies”. It was ridiculous and fitting at the same time, like the boisterous flip-side to the cynicism of ‘One Inch Badge Pin’. If you wade through all the fans, it’s still the same boy from Shepparton. “Is this that song by The Clash?” he asked when ‘London Calling’ boomed from the speakers, a few minutes before he was due on stage. “I’ve never heard it before.”

by Andrew Ramadge