Castle Tones
By Sophie in Sophie | 0 comments
Mistletone took over the entire Edinburgh Castle for a crisp winter’s day and night full of unfailingly impressive local luminaries and guest headliners, the incredibly charming Je Suis Animal from Norway (who declared themselves enamoured of Melbourne’s indie music scene).
Thanks to the lovely people at the Edinburgh Castle, all the punters, everyone who brought a mix CD or cassette, the DJs who made the beer garden heaps of fun, and especially all the bands.
I managed to take happy snaps of ‘em all…
ANONYMEYE, aka Andrew “Tutts” Tuttle of Brisbane town opened proceedings with entrancing fragments of electro-acoustic folk guitar. Dreamy.
FRANCIS PLAGNE played his first show in many a moon, with a top notch band featuring Joe Talia and Anthony Pateras with Golden Fur’s Judith Hamann and James Rushford on strings. It was a joy to hear Francis’ songs once more and the strings were an extra treat.
THE TWERPS were as fun to watch as always, there is something of a 1950s prom party feel about the Twerps and as the first band to perform in the Dining Room they suddenly made it feel like a loungeroom party (with teenage zombies lurking somewhere in the corner).
DICK DIVER are such a good band, their pockets stuffed full of catchy, worldly tunes, and it only recently occurred to me that they named themselves after the doomed hero of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s morbidly romantic Tender Is The Night, one of my fave novels as a young ‘un, so this endears them to me all the more.
LEE MEMORIAL were a three piece on this occasion, genteel and captivating. There is something quietly compelling about Karl Smith’s songwriting and always a great pleasure to hear him sing.
KES TRIO were my highlight of the day, playing LOUD to a packed house with graceful force and fury. The tight, muscular punch of the Trio surprised many who last saw Kes Band in more fluid, folkie form with the five piece lineup at their Edinburgh Castle residencies almost a year ago. This was definitely up there with the sublime performances of the many incarnations of Kes.
JESSICA SAYS held the crowd rapt with Jessica’s delicate, fanciful and brave songs floating above pretty flourishes of keyboards and strings. Jessica Venables was (perhaps predictably so) the most fashion forward of the day, rocking a maid Marian-esque green velvet frock with a silver ringed belt.
I hadn’t seen perform LAURA JEAN in quite a while and I was quite taken with the sparseness and eerie beauty of her songs. I can hear echoes of Kes Band from when Laura and Biddy were in the band, and a lyrical mysticism that sounds like it’s from another time and place entirely.
MINIATURE SUBMARINES were a little loose but hugely enjoyable, a woozy swirl of epic pop and guitar fog with solid hits of shoegazey goodness.
NED COLLETTE & WIREWALKER put in a barnstorming, sonic set with plenty of shred;
JE SUIS ANIMAL were a classy headline act who reminded me quite a bit of Camera Obscura, with extra fuzz guitar;
SCOTT & CHARLENE’S WEDDING grunged up the dining room with a mess of homegrown rock dirges.
And of course the night could not be complete without some Shane Moritz dancing…
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