Love of Diagrams + Witch Hats
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Friday 11th September 2009
Setting up shop in the familiar setting of Northcote Social Club, where Love of Diagrams launched the album Mosaic three years ago, the adored Melbourne trio launched its hotly anticipated follow-up, Nowhere Forever, to a sold-out house on Friday.
The evening commenced with Dirt Bag, a recently formed quartet featuring two members of Spider Vomit, the drummer from The Twerps, and producer Jack Farley. Vocalist-guitarist Gill Tucker (also of Beaches) sang with a drowsy flatness recalling Beat Happening’s Heather Lewis, while the music was more akin to the last two Sonic Youth records: washed-out, celestial, and gorgeous, but still consistently rollicking. Not many punters were on hand early enough to catch Dirt Bag, but a fair few of them headed for the merch table afterwards to pick up a five-dollar cassette the band had for sale.
Next were Witch Hats, who have been landing quite a few high-profile support slots of late. The scrappy four-piece opened with three songs from the new Solarium Down The Causeway EP, which is more clearly delivered than their past work and perhaps less volcanic, but still marked by a lurching two-guitar attack and Kris Buscombe’s raking vocals. In a set dominated by fresh material, the band let the crowd choose one older song for them to play. The verdict was ‘Jock The Untold’, a standout from 2006’s Wound Of A Little Horse EP and a live staple since. Witch Hats closed with two more entries from the new record, including the Blondie-referencing gem ‘Sessa (Son Of A Silo Salesman)’.
Launching Nowhere Forever with obvious affection, Love of Diagrams played nine of its 11 songs. Though the album focuses more on huge tidal waves of effects than the math-y dynamics of Mosaic, it’s still rewarding to take in the taut interplay between singer-bassist Antonia Sellbach, singer-guitarist Luke Horton, and drummer Monika Fikerle. When the trio took the stage, it was actually as a quartet, thanks to the guest turn of Mark Nelson from the Stabs and Miniature Submarines on second guitar. Nelson played on the album and set-opening ‘Static Information’ and a spidery ‘A Part Of You’, but departed before the piercing ‘Lookout’ and melody-laced ‘Stones Throw’; each sopping with delay, distortion, and other feats of Horton’s beloved effects pedals.
Nelson returned for ‘Winding’, ‘Magnify’, and the very catchy single ‘Forever’, which came off great despite a false start and restart. Once Nelson left for the second time, the trio tucked into the slower, eardrum-friendly ‘All You Know’ before closing with the aptly titled ‘Mountain’, which produced an all-encompassing blizzard of noise. For the inevitable encore, Love of Diagrams tore through the hyper-kinetic ‘The Pyramid’ from Mosaic, a bracing reminder of what the band can do, even without the cool, ghoulish effects that make Nowhere Forever such a deeply saturated experience.
Doug Wallen