Photo: Michelle Ho
Making their debut appearance in Australia, The Duke Spirit, led by vivacious frontwoman Liela Moss, charmed audiences with their swaggering rock'n'roll take on punk and blues.
The band members are well-rehearsed and tight, but although the first four or so songs had me thinking this was going to be one of the most riveting performances of the year, where the foursome let themselves down is their lack of variation in set songs. With each track possessing the same dynamic, tempo and tone, my attention waned and I began pondering the price of beers at Oxford Arts Factory, wondering just how all their taps could be broken and thinking surely this is some ploy to get us all forking out for overpriced bottled beers - always a nail in the coffin for any band.
Moss is a fantastic frontwoman and her band seemed happy to let her take the reins, effortlessly as she does. She spent the entire length of the set dancing and hopping about all over the stage, belting out her flawless vocals somewhat reminiscent of PJ Harvey. Clearly enthused to be in Australia for the first time, she gushed, "You guys just don't understand how long we've wanted to come here for."
Despite feeling slightly let down by this show, I do still feel The Duke Spirit, with their ballsy, punchy, jump-around-and-let-loose sound, are one of the more interesting bands to come out of UK's indie music scene. They remain stylish without trying, cool without appearing affected - a lot more than can be said for pretty much every other NME-hype band.
All The Duke Spirit need is a few slower tracks or at least sparser moments in their current repertoire to keep people interested. There is, after all, only so much rock one can handle on a week night.
Aimee-Lee Curran
|
|