Otouto, Seja + Great Earthquake
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Saturday, 17th April 2010
Playing support for the joint album launch of Melbourne trio Otouto and Brisbane songstress Seja, Great Earthquake opened the night beautifully. It’s the work of Melbourne’s Noah Symons, who collaborates with a singer and producer on recordings but finesses a lush forest of sounds on his own live. With still-like film footage projecting behind him, he promptly looped bits of guitar, bass, drums, xylophone, and most notably, accordion. Flushed with twitchy warmth, his creations were instrumental – even the brief Joy Division cover – save some vocal harmonies on the last song. Most punters remained seated on the carpet throughout the set as Symon, flanked by instruments on all sides, plucked his sublime collage-pop out of thin air.
Best known for her time Regurgitator and Sekiden, singer-keyboardist Seja Vogel was here to launch her charming solo debut, We Have Secrets But Nobody Cares. Swimming in layers of vintage synths, the album would be difficult to recreate live, but Vogel didn’t worry about trying. Instead, at this first gig with a bassist and drummer, she let the songs morph as needed. After the pensive dreaminess of ‘Silver In My Eye’ and ‘Delay’, noisy guitar nudged the usually mellow ‘A Million Wheels’ closer to alt-rock. Vogel’s bandmates later joined her on keys – all three played synths on ‘One Year Later’ – and Saul Jarvis (ex-Rival Flight) played guitar and sang - as on the album - on the duet ‘Framed You In Fiction’. From there, a few technical issues meant Vogel had to restart two songs she gamely played guitar on: the German-sung ‘Wir Haben Geheimnisse’ and an obscure cover. Vogel encouraged people to talk amongst themselves while she tuned her guitar and solved its curious buzzing, but it then took time to regain the attention of an already chatty room. Still, she seemed to win them over by song’s end. For the closing ‘We Can’t See Past Our Hands’, Vogel did a cheeky, rudimentary dance routine with the guitarist. Despite the set’s hiccups, they displayed a contagious amount of good humour.
Beginning the vocal loop of ‘Autumn’, Otouto quickly settled into its unique strengths to launch its self-titled debut. Sisters Hazel and Martha Brown and drummer Kishore Ryan (also of Kid Sam and Seagull) are all about unconventional instrumentation, but only as it naturally informs a song. Ryan is as likely to drum with his fingers or incorporate pieces of cookware as play his entire kit. The Browns, meanwhile, bring a similarly offbeat minimalism to guitar, keyboards, and their lilting vocals. Their lyrics sift through daily life for objects of improbable value, and Otouto excels at the sort of odd structure that can make one song feel like a hybrid of two or three. Both Browns sang on the percussion-snapped ‘W. Hillier’, Martha plucked a violin for ‘Cartoon Shoes’, and Hazel also played cookware percussion on ‘Twelve Ten’. ‘Low Dan’ was dedicated to their dog, who features in the lyrics, and Hazel summoned percussion from a prone guitar while Martha sang lead on ‘Plum’.
Something like campfire art-pop, the slinky ‘Tennis Players’ and playful ‘Sushi’ were immaculate triumphs. And a third Brown sister sang along on the more rocking yet still skeletal ‘Astronauts’. Hazel and Martha expressed wonder at the number of people in attendance, rattling off a gracious list of thanks and citing their family and friends’ contributions of cupcakes and cookies to the merch table. The trio closed with the B-side ‘Spot’, a live staple featuring a more pronounced beat. No other band sounds quite like Otouto, and this pitch-perfect set was over far too soon.
Doug Wallen