Crayon Fields

While a few suburbs away from this inner-west backyard Sydney’s Mardi Gras is roaring into life, the only reminders here that it’s party night are a home-made ‘OMG it’s Mardi Gras’ sign on the back wall and the silver tiara Geoff O’Connor, Crayon Fields’ frail-looking singer, places on his microphone stand. But this crowd of indie kids wouldn’t be anywhere else. In fact, they wouldn’t swap their spot here for a first-edition pressing of Tigermilk. It wasn’t for nothing that The Crayon Fields’ debut album, Animal Bells, achieved a lofty position in the 2006 Mess+Noise polls; tonight's short but unfailingly sweet performance proves just how extraordinary they are.

The three-part harmonies on ‘Living So Well’ are heavenly and set closer ‘Lovely Time’ is the kind of irresistible, catchy and utterly innocent pop song you don’t mind living with long after its two-minute running time. Glockenspiels, shakers, tambourine and handclaps add depth and charm to songs that somehow seem to combine Brian Wilson-style perfectionism and the shambling DIY indie ethos of the C-86 bands. Absolutely gorgeous stuff, and despite the band’s complete lack of rock star pretension, assuredly word class. They may not have the glitz and glamour of some of their more famed contemporaries, or the celebrations on Oxford Street, but in their own low-key way The Crayon Fields are every bit as fabulous.

by Daniel Herborn