Spicy Chicken

British indie rock bands are as ubiquitous as fast food chicken outlets. Fresh baked from London, Cajun Dance Party offer a spicy selection of indie in their debut The Colourful Life.

Like any good party, the title track starts us off with a light-hearted take about honey and Wrigley's gum whilst commentating on the ups and downs of modern life. We next taste pop radio's The Next Untouchable leading us into the sublime No Joanna. A stripped down arrangement of synth, strings, and electric overlayed with Daniel Blumberg's cockney about a summer break up.

Daniel challenges biology in Amylase, using it to dry up plaster, rather than break down sugars A light-hearted poke on the exchange of body fluids during love to fix soggy feelings from the past? Perhaps. 

We cruise downhill through The Firework and Buttercups with profound lines such as "is that her smiling or a reflection of his own toothed face?"

Landing finally on the The Hill, The View, & The Lights. A background of syncopated unwired snare warms us to Vicky Freund's sassy lounge-bar defiance of gravity. Blumberg returns us firmly down to earth with full drums juxtaposed with airy ride and a distant Freund. Clearly, the highlight of the album.

And what an album. Well structured, brilliant songs, typical indie rock but then with enough variation to make it somehow not. 

Like fast food chicken with a difference. 

I Need You So Much Closer

You could feel it amongst the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars scattered through-out Metropolis Fremantle. Seattle's Death Cab for Cutie, a champion for disenchanted emo youth had returned to Australia.

Sold out weeks before the event, excitement pulsed through the disheveled teenage bodies like blood through self-harm wounds.

The entree was Brisbane's indie pop duo An Horse. My complete ignorance was pointed out by my concert guest when she told me the "front-man" actually had breasts. Kate Cooper was in fine form with her raw narrative voice ably supported by partner Damon. Their soulful melodies worked well on the right-brained audience although Kate's stories about her flight across from Brisbane didn't have the same effect.

A resonating guitar vibrato signaled the start of Death Cab's Bixby Canyon Bridge. The emo crowd gasped as Ben Gibbard emerged from the dark sans trademark black plastic rimmed glasses. He looked plump and well nourished, disappointing the black shirts in front of him. Bixby swelled to it's beautiful climax accompanied by a strobe light which would've worked better with the other lights dimmed. 

DCFC then stepped back in time playing perennial favourites The New Year, Styrofoam Plates, Title and Registration, and Soul Meets Body which was met by a well deserved roar.

Pop radio's friend I Will Possess Your Heart was unsurprisingly a bit of a let down but remained a crowd pleaser. A short burst of lovable newbies Grapevine Fires and Your New Twin Sized Bed failed to have their desired effect. Perhaps fatigue had set in after a literally exhausting set or these songs had yet to engulf Generation Y. 

I was hoping for a surprise ending but predictably Transatlanticism rounded out the night. It was superb though. Always special watching Jason McGerr playing nothing but continuous quarter notes on ride cymbal and snare. His increase in intensity towards the end of the song epitomised sublime simplicity.

All in all, I'd have to say their first concert was argubly better. More surprise, more spontaniety. They seemed too professional, too polished. The joy of going to a live gig is experiencing things you couldn't possibly imagine. Quoted by Ben Gibbard in Drive Well, Sleep Carefully. 

But do come back Death Cab. I'll have my Chuck Taylors ready.