THE LOVETONES live review

This is a live review of a recent Lovetones show in Sydney. As published in this week's edition of The Brag...

“Oh damn you Rock N Roll Stardom - you are a fickle mistress! Again and again you have dashed the careers of talented bands onto the rocks of anonymity. And why? Simply because these musicians weren’t in the right place at the right time! It’s just not fair I tell you! Curse you Rock N Roll Stardom! You are a heartless beast!” This was my reaction after a night of marvellous music played by magical musicians who, I fear, have arrived in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Instead of Australia in 2010, The Prayer Circle should be in London in 1990. Back then, bands concocting ethereal drone rock were packing out places far bigger than the Oxford Art Factory. Groups like Slowdive, Lush and Chapterhouse used exactly the same formula as The Prayer Circle: delicate vocal harmonies drowning in a miasma of guitar feedback and buzzsaw guitars. It sounded glorious back then and The Prayer Circle prove that it still does today.

As for The Laurels, their natural place in time is really New York in 1993. This was when Bob Mould and his band Sugar were unleashing a fierce album called Beaster; while Sonic Youth had just released Dirty into the wild. These albums tore a punk-shaped hole through the shoegaze sound, adding fiery aggression and attitude into the art-rock aesthetic. The Laurels have gone out and bought the same guitar pedals as Sugar and Sonic Youth, and tonight they engulf the Oxford Art Factory in a blizzard of white noise.

It doesn’t take a mad scientist to work out when and where The Lovetones would have prospered most. Kids in late-1960s California pretty much lived on a diet of psychedelic pop. The Lovetones would have had San Franciscan hippy chicks eating out of their hands. Still, even in 2010, the music they serve up is delicious. ‘Navigator’ is the perfect appetiser and ‘Journeyman’ is equally mouth-watering. ‘This Great Romance’ and ‘A New Low in Getting High’ are sweet and bittersweet respectively. Meanwhile, during ‘Stars’ and ‘Chinatown Busride’, you can practically taste the hash cakes.

Sadly, Rock N Roll Stardom will probably never wine and dine any of these bands on this bill. But each and every musician played a part in seducing the Oxford Art Factory crowd tonight.

Article by Andy McLean. Copyright held by author.

First published in The Brag, Sydney, 2010.