Gotye, Oliver N Martin @ The Brisbane Powerhouse (09/10/11)
Something that damn near every Australian knows by now is that Wally De Backer, AKA Gotye, is a musical genius. Stories of this prodigious artist crafting songs from hundreds of loops and samples and almost as many instruments all from his bedroom have been circulating the music press long before the spectacular success of 'Somebody That I Used to Know'. In fact, that single is now officially the longest running Australian number one in 14 years! From all this what I was most looking forward to seeing was how De Backer could bring his multi-layered sound to the live stage without hiding behind a computer for the entire set.
Firstly though, I have to mention Oscar N Martin. This Melbourne duo warmed the crowd for Gotye with their unique mix of ambient sound-lab and striped back indie. Utilising synthesisers, guitars and drums, these boys incorporated pop hooks and melodies that were quietly engaging. The all-ages (read 'sober') crowd were very polite and attentive, however I would be interested to see if they could maintain the attention span of a regular 18+ (read 'drunk') audience. The highlight track was the least introspective, 'Mermaid', which even featured a bit of rapping.
With the stage set up to include a bevy of instruments (and even two MacBooks) it gave me a good idea of what to expect. When the band walked on they resembled a small orchestra, and De Backer their conductor, as he sang with the lights down low and his back to the audience.
In the opening bars of 'Eyes Wide Open' the stage lit up with projections of animations from the tracks video clip and watching that it was impossible to miss the attention seeking male backing singers on the centre riser. These guys were incredible! They sang, they danced, they played a myriad of horns, flutes, clarinets, shakers and xylophones and were almost more charismatic that Wally himself. However, De Backer was also racing from one instrument to the next and as the set progressed the number and obscurity of the instruments grew exponentially.
The sound was astonishing. It’s rare that anyone gives much credit to the guys on the desk but mixing 11 musicians playing Gotye’s complex tunes would not be an easy task. Without a good sound tech the show would have been a disaster so cheers whoever you are!
The band stormed through hit after hit with expert precision. ‘State of the Art’ was closely followed by ‘I Feel Better’ and then it was time for ‘the love section of the set’. Wally broke the bad news that Kimbra wouldn’t be available for the next track so we all knew it was time for ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’. He asked the audience to sing her part saying, “I basically wanna hear 900 people tell me to fuck off”. It must be pretty amazing hearing a room full of people sing a song that you wrote at the top of their voices and it was pretty amazing to be one of those people.
It was then straight into ‘Heart’s a Mess’ which was touching and very well received by the crowd, sparking spontaneous back up ‘oooh oooh oooh oooh’ from some punters in the front.
It was the encore however that really left everyone on a massive high. Starting with ‘In Your Light’, De Backer then played one of the best live tracks I’ve ever witnessed, ‘Learnalilgivinanlovin’. Broken down with drum and horn solos, passionate vocals and a great up-beat tempo, this song managed to stand out even above the brilliant performance that went before it.
Walking back out into the Powerhouse I was completely drained and happily satisfied. De Backer has certainly come a long way from his bedroom and by trusting his music to a live band he has managed to somehow give each song more soul and humanity.
Kirsty Visman
Firstly though, I have to mention Oscar N Martin. This Melbourne duo warmed the crowd for Gotye with their unique mix of ambient sound-lab and striped back indie. Utilising synthesisers, guitars and drums, these boys incorporated pop hooks and melodies that were quietly engaging. The all-ages (read 'sober') crowd were very polite and attentive, however I would be interested to see if they could maintain the attention span of a regular 18+ (read 'drunk') audience. The highlight track was the least introspective, 'Mermaid', which even featured a bit of rapping.
With the stage set up to include a bevy of instruments (and even two MacBooks) it gave me a good idea of what to expect. When the band walked on they resembled a small orchestra, and De Backer their conductor, as he sang with the lights down low and his back to the audience.
In the opening bars of 'Eyes Wide Open' the stage lit up with projections of animations from the tracks video clip and watching that it was impossible to miss the attention seeking male backing singers on the centre riser. These guys were incredible! They sang, they danced, they played a myriad of horns, flutes, clarinets, shakers and xylophones and were almost more charismatic that Wally himself. However, De Backer was also racing from one instrument to the next and as the set progressed the number and obscurity of the instruments grew exponentially.
The sound was astonishing. It’s rare that anyone gives much credit to the guys on the desk but mixing 11 musicians playing Gotye’s complex tunes would not be an easy task. Without a good sound tech the show would have been a disaster so cheers whoever you are!
The band stormed through hit after hit with expert precision. ‘State of the Art’ was closely followed by ‘I Feel Better’ and then it was time for ‘the love section of the set’. Wally broke the bad news that Kimbra wouldn’t be available for the next track so we all knew it was time for ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’. He asked the audience to sing her part saying, “I basically wanna hear 900 people tell me to fuck off”. It must be pretty amazing hearing a room full of people sing a song that you wrote at the top of their voices and it was pretty amazing to be one of those people.
It was then straight into ‘Heart’s a Mess’ which was touching and very well received by the crowd, sparking spontaneous back up ‘oooh oooh oooh oooh’ from some punters in the front.
It was the encore however that really left everyone on a massive high. Starting with ‘In Your Light’, De Backer then played one of the best live tracks I’ve ever witnessed, ‘Learnalilgivinanlovin’. Broken down with drum and horn solos, passionate vocals and a great up-beat tempo, this song managed to stand out even above the brilliant performance that went before it.
Walking back out into the Powerhouse I was completely drained and happily satisfied. De Backer has certainly come a long way from his bedroom and by trusting his music to a live band he has managed to somehow give each song more soul and humanity.
Kirsty Visman