Nov 2, 2008 (15 years ago) Spectrum Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia
Indie Pop, Pop, Rock, Australian, and Perth.
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The Autumn Isles – Spectrum, 2 November 2008
Its been a while, but Perth’s Autumn Isles make their first ever east coast tour.
A showery Sunday night at Spectrum is not usually where one would first go to seek some musical magic. But when the band playing are brimming with wide-eyed enthusiasm from making their first foray east, well, even the ominous looming working week can’t rain on this parade. The Autumn Isles are your ‘classic’ guitar pop band in that they deftly shape and craft their songs with seemingly timeless hooks and infectious melodies. The band have been receiving all manner of positive press, a third straight WAMI Pop Song of the Year nomination and made the top ten of the Wireless Bollinger ‘Australian Bands to Watch’ on the strength of their two self-released EPs.
On CD the songs have an assured and almost meticulous sheen to them. What was most impressive about the Autumn Isles’ live set was their ability to effortlessly play such well-honed songs and also create an engaging performance. The tunes come all bright and sunny with chiming guitars given all the trimmings at times in the form of swirling keyboard lines, hand claps and even a cheeky dose of cowbell. The vocals are delivered as if they are another vital instrument in the mix as well as conveying a bit of thought-provoking material. The sparing but dashingly effective use of harmonies and backing vocals add even more lustre to the mix and when the guy and girl inflections intertwine it’s a pretty darn sweet.
The Autumn Isles have a bucket-load of great songs at their disposal, with most played this evening likely to form the bulk of their debut album. You can certainly see what all the Next Big Thing fuss is about as they are delivered with such warmth that they become addictive from the very first listen. The music proves so persuasive there was even utterly un-self-conscious swing dancing breaking out amongst the particularly receptive crowd. I daresay they will be playing Sydney a bit earlier in the week and in a bigger venue next time.
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