Glass Animals are something, but cool rock stars they are not. Due on stage at 10.20pm, the four lanky Anglos walked on stage to a rambunctious welcome at 10.19pm with Dave Bayley; frontman, producer and mastermind of the band wearing his own band’s merch shirt. Smooth. Set against an overly elaborate canopy of cane palms, the band opened with Black Mambo and as their compatriots Groove Armada would say, the groove was on. But it’s a familiar groove, because if we’re honest, Glass Animals are hopelessly derivative. Their debut album, last year’s Zaba, was the Maggi two-minute noodles of the indie-rock scene: fun, easy to digest, but not exactly pushing any boundaries in their field.
With the acceptance that the Oxford lads weren’t in Melbourne to break new ground, their performance was as satisfying as those delicious noodles on a frosty winter afternoon. Psylla followed their opening track and continued the bass-heavy wig out, with Bayley’s vocals slinking above and below the rhythm section, contorting his voice from growls to falsetto.
As a frontman, Bayley’s quite captivating, putting his own spin on Thom Yorke’s patented dance moves and restlessly pacing the stage, guitar in hand as if bursting with nervous energy. But the party starts with Joe Seaward. The percussionist, as with all R&B-inflected indie groups, is the centrepiece of every track. Exxus followed next, then Gooey and Walla Walla after that, but the setlist wasn’t what was interesting about the night, it rarely is when a band is touring their only album.
What was interesting was how much more muscular their sound was on stage and how readily all four jumped into experimental, improv beast mode, giving zero fucks about any limitations of genre as they extended tracks and pushed them further. It was in these moments Glass Animals outgrew any tag 2014 might have placed on them. Manipulating bass lines into trip hop territory, surprisingly technical guitar riffs and a percussionist that obviously has jazz training all placed the lovable nerds in an echelon above your dollar-a-bag four-piece English rock band.
Their performance proved there’s genuine hope for them to escape from the shadows of their own iTunes heroes. Finishing with Pools was a lot more dignified; the strongest track on their album showcased their ability and potential to move tiles on a dancefloor and if they can broaden the scope of their influences in the future, Glass Animals are going to quickly climb the ranks of the NME oligarchy.
BY CHRISTOPHER LEWIS
Photo by Ian Laidlaw
Loved: David Bayley doing his best impersonation of Thom Yorke in Lotus Flower.
Hated: Sound issues.
Drank: A single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man’s hat.
