Skye Harbour (Live at Pony) : Gig Review

Some days you are the pigeon, some days you are statue. Melbourne life, for me, has been a psychological roller-coaster; flying between angsty, bored disenchantment and spirited optimism. I am forever bemoaning the ‘scene’, to be immediately proven wrong by some inspired rocker or dainty odist in a gin-soaked bar.

Skye Harbour entered my life in much the same way, my saviour (or, four, as it were) in a time of great disillusionment and tedium. Melbourne, quel dommage!

So, to make a long story short- as I often don’t- I knew Skye Harbour would provide indie-rock-lectro condolence during my time of need. I have since followed them back to their cars….no, to their gigs and watched with joyous sanguinity as this Melbourne band unfurl onto an unsuspecting city.

Opening with the dreamy Firefly, it is immediately apparent that front man Josh is the show-piece that commands our attention. An exemplary singer and mesmeric front man, Josh also rattles the ivories in the band, giving them a notch above other bands of their niche.

The keys are nothing special in and of themselves but they are much like other areas of creative expression: lots do it, few do it well. Firefly has a squelchy, robotic opening that dives straight into Josh’s dulcet tones and electric-rock sentiments; “We were chasing a firefly, we got lost while we waited and everything faded…”

Next up was Hunch, a relative newie and powerful kick-start into the set. Echo-y, sharp guitars resonate, integrating with the aforementioned intricate keys. “It’s not what you thought you saw, it’s just the way you said it/ It’s not what you thought would happen but it’s the way things have got to be….” cries Josh as axeman Matt rings out the riffs in unison.

What Skye Harbour manage to encapsulate in their music is a sense of emotional bloodletting; when Josh belts out whatever lyric it is time for, he is instilling in it, beside it, all over it, the sentiment behind the words. The rest of the band, too, manage to co-ordinate their instruments just so; as if their amps were set to emotional frequencies rather than numbered buttons and other technical jargon I don’t understand.

Paying Debts follows; one of the tracks from their 2008 EP Houses- go to the iTunes store and purchase, it’s rather cheap and thou will not regret it- it’s an optimistic ballad, teeming with contemporary classical string sounds.

Further Away steals the show, of course; those kicking, sharp drums, the banging keys- it’s all good, baby. You can download the track for free from their Triple J Unearthed page and it has since taken the crown in my court for favourite track of 2009.

Modern Minds is just gorgeous; I hate to get ‘New Mum’ on you, but Josh’s vocals on this track are beyond sublime, and the whole thing just rises and crashes like some divine wave. For now, you can only hear this one live, so it’s well worth getting down to a SH gig or three.

This whole review may seem disingenuous to you; having gone a good five-hundred words without a single character of criticism (constructive or otherwise), but I assure you, friend, I wouldn’t lie; what good would it do me to big-up a band I cared nought about? I’m not getting paid for this.

SKYE HARBOUR – UPCOMING GIGS:

February 5- Revolver, Melbourne w/ Hercules in NY, City Calm Down and Neon Knights.