Before he was a staple of the Melbourne music scene, Mikelangelo was a fledgling musician and performance artist in Canberra. But despite the charms and colourful social underbelly of the nation’s capital, Canberra is hardly a potent source of artistic inspiration. It’s not surprising, then, that Mikelangelo’s latest release, Melbourne EP, eschews the stimulating excitement hidden in the Belconnen Mall, the Tuggeranong Expressway and the Canberra Leagues Club for the iconic beauty of St Kilda, the Sandringham train line and the Yarra River.
On Love in St Kilda Mikelangelo is a cabaret rock Paul Kelly, bouncing along Acland Street and celebrating love in its hippest pop form; on Train to Sandringham he’s suave and debonair, serenading the jaded punters like a gypsy Don Walker. Move along to Banks of the Yarra, and Mikelangelo casts his gaze across Melbourne’s aquatic spine, finding love just beneath the surface of the polluted waterway. Coburg Lullaby is less than a minute wandering casually down Sydney Road, taking in the cultural and culinary sights and sounds; Everything is so seductive it almost renders Nick Cave an illiterate bogan in comparison.
Sometimes it takes an interloper to truly appreciate a city’s intrinsic wonder. And Mikelangelo has done just that.
BY PATRICK EMERY
