In the first of two massive Australian showcases at Music Matters in Singapore (the other being the long running Aussie BBQ), the recent addition to Sounds Australia’s roster of events – Sound Gallery – made its Singaporean debut with four outstanding intimate performances at the Kuro Bar and Restaurant as part of Music Matters last week.
Kicking things off, three piece Lyon Apprentice (pictured above) emerged straight from their North American Tour. You can tell this because one of them was sporting a Toronto Blue Jays shirt. With great voices, stellar melodies and impressively hypnotic songs, the group – led by the two brothers who also front the band FAIRCHILD (favourites of Music Matters in 2013) – are one of Australia’s best kept secrets.
Bec Laughton followed, accompanied by a three piece band that included a local drummer (Aaron) and Dru Chen on guitar (a beautiful white Fender to be precise), a Melbourne based artist who has garnered a bit of a following here in Singapore. Well, he used to live here after all. Add in a keyboardist who could also play trumpet while he was playing the keys (show off much!), and you had yourself a pretty impressive band for the emerging Brisbane artist.
Bec sports an incredible voice, supported by impressive arrangements from the band – particularly Chen on guitar – which is especially of note as this isn’t a quartet who play together regularly. And Bec, she rocked it, as she traversed R&B, soul, hip-hop, pop and rock… she’s an artist who never strays away from feeling authentic, while simultaneously making it clear she really is capable of anything. A new song was a highlight in “Save Me”, as was recent single “M & R”, which closed out the set.
Ash Grunwald was next, easily the most established artist to be playing the event. It was a joy to get to see him in such an intimate setting, performing barefooted and with a drummer in front of a small but energetic crowd. Even when his Les Paul had but five strings, Grunwald continued to rock it as hard as any musician out there – and one would expect no less. His cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” as well as “Shake That Thing” and “Walking”, which closed the set, were among the highlights.
Closing the night was Sophie Koh, who we’d already caught in acoustic mode earlier in the evening at another venue – and this time she was ready to rock it with an electric set (and I mean that in more ways than one). The North Melbourne based songstress is much like Dru Chen in that she’d spent time growing up in Singapore, so this was like a homecoming for her. She played through the set with ease, bringing in elements of artists like Fiona Apple amongst her diverse sound. It’s a sound that’s easy to love.
