All may be dark and cold in the southern outpost of Australia, but in their first hometown gig in Hobart, All India Radio emanated a warm starburst of magic into the ether. Martin Kennedy, a frequent visitor to our pages through his solo work and collaborations with Steve Kilbey (see my review of today’s new release), became a resident of Hobart a few years back and after a hiatus breathed life back into All India Radio with the the album ‘The Unified Field’ (reviewed here). And blessed were we to witness the band in action, weaving their blissfully sonic waves.
In an evening that showcased the deep pool of talent in Tasmania, the support bands added a superb variety of earthly delights.
Dededed were new to me but the trio provided a blast of creative and innovative music that was hard to define and as varied as it was tight and immersive. With throat roars and a heavy thunder in some tracks to more nuanced layered sounds (their last song reminded me greatly of The Verve in their Northern Soul era), this was a confident and enjoyable performance.
Dvrkworld have a permanent residency in our psyche having graced our pages a frequently with their dark gothic shoegaze sound, and their performance was accordingly mesmerising and excoriating with their unique sound mixing barbed wire Antarctic thrills with pop sensibilities. Singer Mary Shannon’s vocals were a velvet beacon shining through the wall of sound.
With a warm welcome to Launceston (an in joke as there has always been a very profound rivalry between the cities of Hobart and Launceston), Martin Kennedy launched into All India Radio’s first Hobart gig with his warm and wry humour before what it appears to be a sea of family friends and the musical cognoscente of Tasmania.
For those familiar with the many layered textures of All India Radio, I was fascinated to see how the trio would deliver the sound live. Kennedy was armed with a pedal board more complex than the cockpit of a modern jet fighter and a small mysterious box at chest level, but despite this array, there was no sign of frantic pedal stepping as he effortlessly created the mesmerising and delicate tendrils of sound.
The wash of synth sounds in the ether provided the platform for his signature meanderings on guitar – echoed, reverbed and chorused layers that seem to hang in the air like the Aurora spectacle that often visit the Hobart skies.
The bass and drum were a perfect bedrock to the delicate sounds: Mark Wendt’s melodic expressive lines on bass being both ambulant and grounding.
The result was something quite hypnotic and thoroughly immersive: music that didn’t need vocals to express emotion; uplifting and evocative.
The bulk of the tracks were from ‘The Unified Field’, but the band threw a few oldies too.
Set list:
- Sunshine Briefly
- Four Three
- Tijuana
- The Red Room
- Wisteria
- Waukaringa
- Drifting
- Everything That Exists
- Bollywood Nights
- Mexicola
All India Radio will also be making an appearance at Melbourne’s answer to the Dark Mofo Festival, fittingly named Dark Fomo along with the fabulous User and Harry Howard. It’s a small world: User features singer Lisa Gibbs who featured in All India Radio’s Slowdive cover above.
Feature Photograph and Gallery: ©fullonrockphotography/Andrew Fuller
Words: Arun Kendall
