It was a deceptively full Workers Club that formed the bed for Sydney four-piece Songs to lay down 50 minutes of quirky and understated rock. The understatement and calm reassurance of Songs’ music, that sounds like a coalescence of Kim Gordon, J Mascis and Bob Dylan, cloaked me in a haze so it wasn’t until two songs into Songs’ set that I realised the room was full of (very quiet and still) people.
Support act Terrible Truths had given me a toothache – seriously. There is definitely a delightful discordance to their post-punk, post-rock, post-grunge music but unfortunately this cacophony combined with a remnant of a rather hearty Portuguese tart I had consumed earlier that night almost resulted in me being rushed to the dentist.
Songs’ rarely play in Melbourne, probably due to the full time occupations of founding members Max Doyle and Craig Emmerson-Everitt’s that make extensive tours almost impossible. However, the band’s bassist and female vocalist Ela Stiles spends time in Melbourne as part of the group Bushwalking and was very recently in town playing with Scott & Charlene’s Wedding. Stiles local connections resulted in there being quite a few rock scenesters present and thus plenty of kitsch Jerry Seinfeld jumpers.
In the lead up to Songs’ set I admitted to my friend that I hadn’t actually listened to the album this show was launching, Malabar, but I was such a big fan of the 2009 debut there was no way I was missing this gig. My friend told me to expect more psychedelic rock with the new material.
With this expectation firmly in mind it wasn’t until Songs played the new album’s single Boy/Girl that I got the psych vibe my friend had told me about. Another huge factor of the new material like the title track Malabar is Stiles presence in front of the microphone – it is where she belongs and the band benefits hugely from it.
With minimal stage chatter and zero crowd interaction Songs’ set seamlessly fluttered and flowed along until the band politely thanked the crowd and left the stage.
BY DAN WATT
LOVED: Ela Stiles.
HATED: The unisex toilets.
DRANK: The unisex toilets.
