Listening to live music in an air-conditioned space is a great way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon. Even better is when a veritable smorgasbord of up and coming talent is offered up for the auditory palate in a nurturing atmosphere such as the Sydney Songwriter’s Collective.
Chelsea Gibson, with her almost neo-classical lilt was first in this seven course degustation menu. She offered some impressive female vocals and piano accompaniment along with an endearingly fractured tone. Matt McGowan then started with a fairly nondescript sentimental ballad “You’re Perfect To Me”, but soon had me decidedly impressed with the dancy Blues number “Conversations” that he explained was based on conversations with oneself. It was somewhat reminiscent of Ash Grunwald, but rather original lyrically and musically nonetheless.
Bec O’Brien’s voice had me the most impressed with a Cindi Lauper-esque voice and tunes such as “Time Goes Slow”, and “If I Want You”. Her guitar playing offered much movement in a Jazz/Country type style. Then, when Kym Staton walked on stage with his slightly worn Telecaster, he assured the crowd he would not be playing Death Metal, but Life Metal. Upon realizing the originality of his comment, he declared his next album would be named the same. His jumpy, jagged sound with a slightly buzzing and percussive guitar tone was quite noteworthy indeed. His songs had an element of Hoedown I think and was quite enjoyable.
Alana-Lee then brought back the piano/vocal aesthetic that Gibson had started on and was possibly the most impressive of the lot. Her “Yellow Taxi” has nothing to do with the Joni Mitchell classic as I was inclined to think when she announced it. Her most impressive number was certainly “Walking For Water”, a song that recounts the hardship she witnessed while travelling through Africa. There seemed to be an element of that continent evident in the music, but maybe I’m tripping as her introduction may have set that expectation.
Pleasantly breaking out of the mold seemingly set by the collective, was avant-garde Electro man Helmut Uhlmann who delivered a short set of Break Beat style tracks with live vocals. “This Scene” he introduced as a social commentary that would require a pair of sunglasses, which he assured us would be necessary for the song, and indeed they were. The sunnies were basically a commentary on Kanye West’s rudeness as Taylor Swift accepted her prize at MTV”s VMA awards in 2009. Uhlmann cleverly dropped a curt version of Swift’s “Trouble” into the original piece before quoting West’s interjection of ‘I’m a gonna let you finish…’ as a precursor to his brief tongue in cheek rendition of “All Falls Down” and “Heartless”.
Uhlmann’s second track melded Electro with some wailing electric guitar, then moving into an impressive tapping style. To finish, he played a straight guitar and vocal tune yclept “My Pocket” that eased the audience back into the singer songwriter mood. He is, of course, a singer songwriter himself, but takes a refreshingly different approach to the discipline, which I believe will be most welcome on the scene. Of course, the style of music almost overpowers his lyrical prowess especially to those who don’t expect meaningful lyrics in such a genre. I count myself among their number, but as a recent convert, I’m sure people will begin to realise his ingenuity and prick up their ears.
With the songwriters having fulfilled their quota, it was time for a special treat; a man I had never heard of prior, but who is sure to live on in my memory once Hades lays his claim. As Fiji’s Knox spoke into the microphone, he feigned ignorance, exclaiming, ‘Wow, I can hear myself’, before continuing, ‘We don’t have this sort of stuff in Fiji (in reference to the PA). We’re still eating each other back there’, which drew a nervous laugh from the audience. His voice is powerful, gravelly, and all here, there, and everywhere all at once.
An early highlight was Knox’s “Old, Old Tree”, which recounts an intriguing tale of a misspent youth. After getting into a little bit too much trouble in Fiji, Knox was sent to the island of Rotuma from whence his mother originated. Not quite cloistered in his grandfather’s abode, the young Knox used his Pop’s canoe, which he described as the best boat on the island (“Like a speedboat”) to pick up girls and charter them around this tropical paradise. The song takes its name from the old tree under which the boat was moored. Long since, his granddad’s house is gone, but the tree remains, showing just how ephemeral we are.
“Baby Tonight” was composed while in the doldrums of unemployment, but as he explained, “Just as long as I have a girl to take to bed tonight, it’s OK”, although I’m not sure how he managed to secure women without money (drip, drip with sarcasm). “Candy”, then recollected a friend’s unrequited love that Knox tried to cheer up by pointing out that she is now fat and ugly with mammaries that now hang down to her waist line. Apparently in Fiji, once a woman has had more than eight kids she becomes persona non grata as far as lustful advances are concerned.
“Stand Up” followed this, which as Knox explained could not make the current album due to the threat of long-term jail time by the Fijian dictatorship. Nonetheless, it’s on iTunes, which the government was apparently willing to overlook. Then, close to the end, Knox played “The Mind Is Broken”, which was written about his favourite uncle who committed suicide when the singer was eleven. It was clearly very emotional with the formidable man hardly able to contain his tears. Very touching. Following this was the powerhouse of “Oh Lord Why?” which perfectly capped off the afternoon before I made my way down to the Opera House for something rather special. More on that later!
