JENNY & JOHNNY, THE LAURELS – EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB
It’s festival season, so for the poor buggers who can’t afford a ticket to the festival itself (OK, so I’m talking Laneway here, surely you’ve worked that out by this review’s title), we’re in the few days during which one chooses the favourite band from the line-up, and fork out the $$’s to check ‘em out.
First up tonight at the East Brunswick is Sydney’s The Laurels, a four-piece shoegaze crew who seemingly hit the right notes without actually making an impact on the growing crowd. There are some brilliant, LSD-inspired Beatles moments, and the majority of the set is reminiscent of the drone-rock of the Black Angels or Tame Impala, although there seems to be a bit too much wanking over amplifiers to really stand out.
After a quick sojourn to the bar and an all-too-obvious increase in crowd population, Jenny & Johnny take the stage. The girlfriend/ boyfriend duo of Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley fame) and Jonathan Rice (of Jonathan Rice fame) share the stage wonderfully, batting eyelashes at each other from either side throughout the night. Playing pretty much their entire first album I’m Having Fun Now, including highlights Scissor Runner, Big Wave and My Pet Snakes, the set is a ripper. With only the minimum amount of banter recognised by a Melbourne crowd (who, in all honesty, don’t really seem to get into the show until the last 20 minutes), Lewis & Rice and their backing two-piece band run things very smoothly on stage, without even the slightest awkward pause.
Lewis and her seductive gaze ensures there’s not a red-blooded male in the room who doesn’t dream to be her bass guitar strap (classic Dream Weaver “sha-winggggg” moment), and Rice carries enough indie cred to keep the skinniest of jean upright.
After a very weird encore break, where the duo just hover side of stage, visible to most, they come back on for an acoustic version of Rilo Kiley’s Silver Lining. It’s a beautiful song made even more haunting by the acousticity (sure, that’s a word), and even the blatant mental blank suffered by Lewis isn’t enough to detract from it being the highlight of the night. Even the rain outside isn’t enough to wipe the smiles off all these faces.
