I felt bad for them when they had to change their name from Rüfüs to Rüfüs du Sol to release their album in America. Did anyone tell them it was a shit name to begin with? It’s so annoying to have everyone think you’re talking about the fabulously camp Mr Wainwright whenever you bring them up, but how easily the superficial things are forgiven when the music is this good.
Atlas is arguably the best electro-pop album Australia has produced since Apocalypso. It’s shamelessly derivative, but it knows radio-friendly anthems better than a mid-‘80s Madonna. Let’s just hope New Order aren’t feeling too litigious. The three Sydney-siders look like Van She, which is to say their lead singer Tyrone Lindqvist is a tad Bondi-trash, but his falsetto is Orbison-esque and when he sings in his chest voice he sounds like Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode. In the coming age of Client Liaison, he may not be the most engaging frontman, but his technical performance at the Palace was close to flawless.
Overcoming some obvious Tuesday night ennui within the crowd, a large dance floor materialised on the floor as soon as Jon George’s drum pads started competing percussively with James Hunt’s kit. The juxtaposition between the two underpin the driving nature of the band’s sound and at times George’s pad-work invoked DJ Shadow whilst Hunt’s drum-kit added a raw nerve to their otherwise glossy production.
The setlist was as predictable as a band with only one album was always going to be, the triple j hits were all saved till the latter stages of the set, which annoyingly disjointed the flow and left some parts of the set flatter than they should have been. The troughs, Two Clocks, Simplicity of Bliss and Modest Life stayed just above Café del Mar mode and moving forward the band will need to address how to keep the energy at a more consistent level throughout their gigs. But that was really their sole weakness.
Their A-sides were plentiful and devastating. Sarah, Take Me, Tonight, Rendezvous and Sundream were all met with rapturous cries from a crowd that had committed their album to memory. At times there was almost too much enthusiasm, complete with awkward out-of-time claps from crowd members who clearly don’t realise that they have no rhythm and can’t keep a simple 4/4 beat. Guest vocalist Jess Pollard was a welcome surprise during the bass-heavy, hypnotic key warbles of Unforgiven, and as they left the stage without having played Desert Night, there was a distinct feeling that the night wasn’t over.
Opening the encore with a synth-laden, club-remix/cover of My Number by Foals, the trio ignited the crowd once more and with a drop worthy of a God’s Kitchen compilation, Desert Night arrived, enrapturing the audience. The indie-dance crossover, whilst not the highlight of the night, was a fitting end that only laid further claim to the three-piece being the premier commercial electronic act in Australia right now.
Don’t expect Aphex Twin, because they are not here to further sonic evolution, and their fans, judging from the crowd, are mostly electronic dilettantes. Rüfüs succeed in their simple ambition to get stuck in your head. Indebted to their Modular heroes as they clearly are, they might now have a stronger following than The Presets or Cut Copy did following the release of Beams and Bright Like Neon Love. Five shows at the Corner Hotel in September last year, followed by Falls Festival, Big Day Out and three sold-out shows to close the Palace speak volumes; the size of their name on the Splendour poster for later this year says this is only just the beginning.
BY CHRISTOPHER LEWIS
Photo by Kate Davis
Loved: Having an opportunity to bid farewell to the Palace. Melbourne cannot afford to lose many more venues of such quality.
Hated: The plethora of platinum blonde, plastic-faced chin-strokers more concerned with their make-up than the music being performed in front of them.
Drank: Many Victor Bravos.
