Having just returned from a successful series of shows in America and Canada, it is clear that Luluc’s undeniable talent is, at last, gaining recognition. On stage, they exhibit all the signs of a band who have spent many years deliberating over, practising and perfecting their songs together. Playing before an adoring audience at the Thornbury Theatre, Luluc headlined a warm and intimate evening’s entertainment.
Locals The Orbweavers were first up on an impressive three-act bill. Marita Dyson and Stuart Flanagan strummed their way through a gentle and often dark set of folk songs; Dyson’s vocals on Pins and Hummingwire close to those of Julia Stone. It was all going well enough but when the band requested trumpeter Dan Aulesbrook, who had been sitting amongst the audience, join then on stage; things really picked up. Auelsbrook’s slow and almost mournful notes were perfectly synchronised with Flanagan’s guitar, serving to really enhance their final two songs. It is bands such as The Orbweavers, playing a mere second-support to a like-minded Melbournian act, which serve to highlight the current rich state of the city’s folk-scene.
If The Orbweavers were dark-folk, the aching melancholy of Tiny Vipers(Seattleite Jesy Fortino) was pitch-black. The critical success of Fortino’s first two albums has clearly done nothing to ease her well-documented stage unease. Fortino barely looked up, barely even stopped during her whole set. She appeared uncomfortable and seemed almost out of place in the Thornbury Theatre’s warm surrounds. And yet, she delivered a thoughtful, challenging and ultimately rewarding performance; best exemplified in the searching ten minute title-track from her most recent album, Life On Earth. A “thanks” was mumbled to mark the end of her set, but it was met with warm and richly deserved applause.
Having taken to the stage and spent a few moments self-consciously fiddling and adjusting, Luluc opened their set with warm, drifting harmonies on The Wealthiest Queen. A lot of smiling and several call-outs from the seated audience suggested they were amongst friends. Steve Hassett’s clean, uncomplicated guitar next carried Body on the Water, a song perhaps more upbeat in composition than subject matter. Wearing a leather jacket donated by Lucinda Williams (just one of many high-profile admirers Luluc have picked up in the last 12 months), Zöe Randall was as charming and affable as always. Her impressive vocal range was quickly evident on Black Umbrella, underlining her place as one of this country’s finest folk voices.
Often referred to as a two-piece, Randall and Hassett have, however, been accompanied by double-bassist Pete Cohen in every performance I’ve seen of theirs and it was he who drove crowd favourite Little Suitcase. His value to Luluc is clearly recognised by the band’s founding members and Randall made clear that, could they afford to pay him, he would travel to play at all of their shows.
The minor reverb that had plagued several of Luluc’s early songs disappeared as they began the beautifully simplistic Warm One; a song Hassett admitted they didn’t normally play due to the amount of times they’d been asked to perform it at funerals. Having earlier made reference to her “punk roots”, it was fitting that Luluc’s one cover for the evening was of a band Randall says was crucial to her survival growing up in country Victoria; The Clash. Strange as it was to here the normally modest lead singer speak of bar fights and pissing on everyone, her reworking of Stay Free felt natural and entirely appropriate.
Having played the second of two new and unnamed songs and built up hope in the audience of a forthcoming album, Randal and Hassett divulged that, come February, they would be leaving Australia for “2-3 years”. A discernible groan suggested that this was not a popular announcement.
A very Luluc attempt at an encore saw the band flirt with leaving the stage, before Randall turned around and delivered a solo rendition of My Midnight Special. With Cohen now enjoying a beer in the audience, it was left to Hassett to rejoin Randall on stage for their final song of the evening; a lush tribute to Gillian Welch simply titled Gillian.
Looking around the Thornbury Theatre, it was clear that Luluc already hold a special place in many hearts. There is a deep-lying emotion in Randall’s song writing; at times conveying great vulnerability and sadness and at others, great power, strength and hope. It is sad to think that they will shortly be leaving our shores for some time. The consolation for their growing fan base is the knowledge that Luluc will undoubtedly be around for a while yet. Review by Jeremy SC, 12 October 2009
http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/gallery/12640/photo/681453/Luluc.htm
http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/events/20759/Luluc-Tiny-Vipers-The-Orbweavers--The-Thornbury-Theatre-Melbourne-91009.htm