“Have you heard of Buzz Kull?” I asked a friend as we waited near the stage before Molchat Doma’s Thursday night show at the Enmore Theatre. It’s an embarrassing thing to admit now – as soon as Marc Dwyer started playing, I immediately regretted every night I’d been elsewhere when they were performing. How had I missed this?
It’s easy to see why he’s a constant murmur in Australia’s post-punk circles. His blend of darkwave, EBM and synth-pop was delivered without artifice or gloss. Electronic solo acts can be hit-or-miss live, I selfishly yearn for movement, but Dwyer was thoroughly energetic and a joy to watch.
Belarusian trio Molchat Doma followed, opening with ‘Ty Zhe Ne Znaesh Kto Ya’ before moving through recent material and earlier tracks. Singer Egor Shkutko spent the first part of the set dancing in a slow sway under the strobing stage lights while Roman Komogortsev and Pavel Kozlov orchestrated the heavy coldwave sound from the edges. The show had the intimacy of a really good club night successfully scaled up to theatre proportions, all played out against a backdrop of gothic brutalism.
Images and words Jess Hutton
