One of the unique advantages of playing a successful and respected annual event like Sydney Festival is that artists who may otherwise perform to half full rooms around the country are given the chance to sit in front of large, (usually) packed venues. This is thanks to the mix of fans and the curious who attend, trusting in the festival’s curators as they take a punt on something new.
Paradiso at Sydney’s Town Hall, a concept for the venue which emerged for Sydney Festival 2013, is a great example of this, where carefully curated nights are given one of the festival’s most glorious stages in the stunning, relatively under-utilised venue (for live music, anyway). Thursday night, in the first of some ten Paradiso nights for 2014, three exceptional artists were given their opportunity to take full advantage of everything Sydney Festival has to offer an emerging artist, and they did not disappoint.
First up, filling the Australian quota for the evening, was Melbourne’s Darren Sylvester, who, armed with nothing but a guitar and some backing tracks, gave the growing crowd a sound born out of the 80s, made into his own. Tracks like “Boys Die Young” and “Fresh Face”, which ended the set, exemplified the classic sound we love – and as perfect an articulation that you’ll find – but offered something uniquely appealing, forming Sylvester’s aesthetic, a take on 80s dream pop that will help ensure the sound never dies. A must see.
Next up, all the way from Mississippi for his first time in Australia, was John Murry, whose inclusion in the festival has seen his local popularity soar in recent weeks to the point that he’s one of very few festival artists to add extra performances to meet demand. Like Sylvester before him, Murry performed solo, switching between an acoustic and an electric guitar, though no loops, backing tracks or any tricks of the trade were seen here. It was just a man and his music. And this was a man clearly surprised and humbled by his warm response in our country, remarking early on “why is my record (The Graceless Age) charting? It’s about heroin addiction!”
Indeed, unlike Grant who would follow, it would be hard to interpret Murry’s music as light-hearted. His inspired, often masterful lyrics weave stories of his life into beautiful melodies; the kind of Americana that Springsteen has made his namesake and rare artists like Murry have made their own. It’s a remarkable genre of music because it dips its toes into so many styles. There’s the country and western influence of the straight forward storyteller, the guy who’s sitting by a campfire talking about the time he met a gal down at the bar (cue music video of guy meeting gal down at the barrrr). Except in this case it’s often about throwing up blood into the dirt thanks to heroin. Or a song about hating California and blaming it for his addiction. Perhaps they’re not songs to sing around the campfire after all… maybe that’s what led him into the studio?
John Murry
And behind that are pop sentiments, the “doo doo doos” that get everyone singing along. It’s this aspect that makes even the darkest of subjects somehow “easy listening” and radio friendly. It’s a balance that few artists achieve with the sort of style and grace that Murry holds so unassumingly. Not to mention his superb guitar work shines through from start to finish, as does his easy banter as he changes guitars and tunes from one song to the next. Put simply, he was a delight to listen to with songs like “Photograph”, “California” and “Southern Sky”, which ended the set, serving as standouts, as well as a cover of John Prine’s “Paradise”.
With such a warm reception, I have a feeling we’ll be seeing and hearing a lot more from John Murry in the years to come. And for now, you can check out his music on his breakthrough debut record The Graceless Age.
The night’s headline slot belonged to Colorado born, Iceland based singer/songwriter John Grant, whose tongue-and-cheek lyrics, excellent instrumentation and unique, soulful voice captured the industry’s attention with his 2010 debut solo album Queen of Denmark, which he produced in collaboration with Midlake. His second album, Pale Green Ghosts, was released last year to similar acclaim (it even made our own best albums of 2013 list!) and saw a new, primarily Icelandic band sit behind him, which meant in this, Grant’s second visit to Australia, we were witness to the performer’s first time with a band in tow. A five piece band no less, filling out his sound and giving Grant the opportunity to spend much of the set away from the keys, focusing on commanding the crowd with his booming vocals, while guitars were thrashed and synths were… synthed?… during excellent tracks like “Glaciers” and “You Don’t Have To”, which opened the set.
The set sailed nicely along the strength of the material, though those who weren’t familiar with the material may have found some parts of the show a bit repetitive. His approach live is fairly consistent through the material and it’s the moments that the band get the most creative that stick out our highlights, with particular mention to “Glaciers” and “Queen of Denmark”, which finished out the main set in a one-two punch ahead of a brief encore encompassing “Chicken Bones” off of his debut.
Other highlights included the phenomenal arrangement in “It Doesn’t Matter To Him”, which was one of the first times we saw Grant on the keys, the stunning strings in “Pale Green Ghosts”, the glorious “Sigourney Weaver” and “I Hate This (Fucking) Town”, which is a personal favourite. Though Grant assured us that this was far from the case, admiring both the good looking men in the city and his admiration for Australia film and music (which he also did in our interview last year). What a guy!
All in all, this was a fantastic night of music. Whether you were there for Murry, Grant, both – or were just curious – it would be hard to say you wouldn’t have had an incredible night enjoying two of America’s finest talents. Oh, and let’s not forget the phenomenal Sylvester if you arrived early enough. And let’s not ALSO forget one of the finest players in all this: the venue. Let’s have more live music at the Town Hall, shall we? Clover, over to you.
Photos by Johnny Au. Check out the full gallery HERE.
