Kes + Sly Hats
The Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney

Away from his main project as the singer-songwriter for cultish twee heroes Crayon Fields, Sly Hats’ frontman Geoff O’Connor proves his ability to pen sweetly twisting tunes, not to mention his fondness for granddad cardigans, is still alive and well. There’s a magnetic fragility about his songwriting, and in this form the lush female backing vocals, pre-recorded beats and sweeping cello combine to position songs like ‘Vampire Sips’ and the new album’s title track, ‘Liquorice Night’, in the shade of his other band’s sun-dappled tropicalia. It’s a warmly-received set from a Hoey that’s near full on a bitterly cold evening and the solid-gold melody of ‘Windy Harmony’ lingers long into the night.

Also launching their new(ish) record tonight are Kes, whose set begins with the five members seated on stage and whose wiry singer cuts an oddly dashing figure with his unevenly rolled-up shirt sleeves and hippie hair held back by bobby pins. Conventional they are not, and in the recorder-based blast of ‘Grey Goose Wing’, they prove more than capable of elevating one of the least fashionable instruments in existence into a conduit for excitingly fresh folk. With Karl Scullin’s clear, appealing voice an obvious drawing point, they power through the uplifting ‘Only When Asked’ and detour into some vaguely bluesy jamming that could be a less hedonistic Led Zeppelin. Keeping audience attention through some technical fiddling between songs and well into an encore, Kes are an altogether unclassifiable delight.

by Daniel Herborn