The Abbotsford Convent and it’s Shadow Electric Bar are serving up beats and beers in equal measure as they welcome the summer with their November Music Salon, The Good Hustle, which premiered on this Saturday night.
To dorkily quote F. Scott Fitzgerald “I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” While it’s not exactly West Egg, there is certainly something special about the Abbotsford convent. That couple of kilometres down Johnston St is like a wormhole that sucks you out of the (not so good) hustle and bustle of Melbourne’s inner north into the convent’s anachronistic sanctuary. The Good Hustle has carefully curated it’s artists to create combination performances as unique and charming as the venue that hosts them.
The first show featured Lost Animal and Geoffrey O’Connor, with the beats of Clubfeet DJs bolstering the evening’s tropical mood. The audience, which was limited to 200, felt less than that, which allowed for intimacy but at first had the crowd nervously segregated, with both the acts urging them to come closer.
Lost Animal was up first, with the intense Jarrod Quarrell, wringing his hands in the microphone cord as he vocally expressed what felt like tangible trauma. Recognisable were songs from last year’s Ex Tropical, including Say No To Thugs and Lose the Baby along with some newer numbers.
Geoffrey O’Connor, though more softly spoken, was equally engaging. Inviting his “Joan Collins” (I suspect through the convent wormhole) up on stage. The two nervously held hands as they meandered sweetly through Things I Shouldn’t Do. So Sorry and Whatever Leads Me To You were also highlights.
The two performances complemented each other and their surroundings in summery symbiosis. While one man lamented love lost, the other spread the sensation of tentative romance and hopefulness, at one point serenading a friend offstage, entwining him in the ever present mic cord.
As those other prolific wordsmiths DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince put it so eloquently “Summer, summer, summertime, time to sit back and unwind.”
BY JO ROBIN
LOVED: Tropical backdrop and the charmingly tuneful couple.
HATED: My not so charming need to sneeze.
DRANK: Pimms and lemonade.
