Friday Arts

Going to review a band with a preconceived opinion of their worth and chosen musical style is probably not a good thing if you are to be objective.
The rise of the 'alternative' indie pop scene has been exponential in the past year and you could be forgiven for thinking that the only way to 'make it' in a band currently would be a place in one of these groups.

But I pushed all those thoughts aside as I headed towards the Oxford Art Factory on Friday night to check out Triple J's new indie pop darlings, The Naked And Famous, supported by Melbourne band, Alpine.

I got there at 9 with plenty of time to kill before Alpine were on, so I liquored up quickly to ease the awkwardness of attending a gig by myself.


Alpine has 2 female lead vocalists who have clearly given the vocal layering and harmonizing some serious thought. The ethereal vocal style compliments the dreamy sounds of the synth and the clean, mellow tones of the guitar. And they sang some quite beautiful harmonies.

However, once each song started the band seemed incapable of moving to a new idea. Each song generally followed the same style; starting with a catchy riff, no real development within the song and ending how it started. The only changes that seemed to be brought about within the song were from the vocalists, Phoebe and Lou.

With the likes of Phoenix and Vampire Weekend bringing this scene to the top of mainstream with their simple melodies and superficial, mostly nonsensical lyrics, I always find it hard to get into a band who, on face value, seems to follow in that style.



Though, Alpine have a rawness to them that gives their music a bit of an edge, and the vocals are superb. This same energy doesn't really come out in the recording.

By the time The Naked And Famous came out, I already had quite a firm idea of what to expect and overall, I wasn't too surprised.
Again, these guys know their stuff. They can write a decent tune and have a great combo with the male and female dual vocals.
N&F were extremely polished. The levels were perfect and the band was clearly feeling the energy of the crowd.

They are quite heavy on the synth, and this created some great transitions to lead into new songs. It helped create a dreamy, yet slightly ominous mood.

But as the gig went along, I found myself getting more excited for the song transitions than the songs themselves.
While N&F have some great songs, there is just no development. They had a format and they were sticking with it. This is just what bores me after a while.

Clearly these thoughts were part of the minority on Friday though, because the crowd was quite ecstatic. And, Naturally, it just comes down to what you like.



For me, I'm not a big fan of this style of music simply because it doesn't bring anything new to my ears. Sure it's nice to listen to and if I'm feeling particularly melancholy, a nice bit of Too Safe by Alpine, or Young Blood by Naked and Famous could go down quite well. But it's definitely music I'd have to be in a certain mood for.

They have some decent songs and the crowd was very much into it.
But it seems they haven't quite found their own identity in their music and are still relying heavily on their influences.

This could be what they want to do and it's obviously got them this far.
But with the explosion of the alternative/indie/pop scene they risk being drowned out and fading into obscurity after only a short stint in the spotlight.

Quite frankly, both Alpine and Naked and Famous deserve more than that. They clearly have musical ability and work well together as a band. But there's no experimentation, no new ideas, no excitement. I've heard it all before a million times on Triple J (who are now becoming as sickening as the commercial stations with the way they saturate us with the same mediocre crap and tout is as 'new music').
It's easy listening, but not very intersting.

Maybe I've just been tainted by getting into too much weird stuff like Mike Patton experiments and Les Claypool. Many people will (and clearly did) like their music, and I'm not saying it's at all bad.

But I would like to see a bit more excitement from the instruments. Some more flair in the guitar. Not just more synth over a simple three note riff.
Maybe that's just not the way to do it in this genre. But it would set the band even further apart from some of the other mediocrity being spewed out from the labels.