Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Friday 28 September, 2018 :
A real treat on a cold September Friday night was going to see Canadian legend Dan Bejar of Destroyer and The New Pornographers fame, play a solo show at Oxford Art Factory in Sydney. In over twenty years of his music career, Vancouver’s own Bejar finally made his way to Australia for an acoustic run of shows, including a couple of festival appearances.
The night was opened by Melbourne based indie songstress Jess Locke. I have heard of Locke before, but never really made the effort to listen to her songs. I was highly impressed with her songwriting. Listening to acoustic versions of songs live, sometimes allows for a better understanding of lyrics. Jess Locke reminded me of Laura Marling, First Aid Kit and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst. Brilliant lyrics – ‘My Body is an Ecosystem’ stood out to me and definitely became one of those songs that now make me smile. I would definitely recommend checking out Locke’s smart, paced and sometimes humble songs if you are into music that is sweet yet stimulating for the brain.
At 9:30 on the dot Bejar emerged. Standing alone, on an empty stage with a hand-scribbled set-list, Bejar seemed relaxed and his unique sounding voice was quite soothing and welcoming. I was quite keen to hear stripped back versions of songs off his latest album Ken (2017). I get it, it is fairly hard to bring an 8 piece band out to Australia unless you are a chart topping sensation who’s bound to sell out their every show. However, an intimate setting for an acoustic show always turns out better in the end.
The crowd at Oxford Art Factory wasn’t large, but gathered closer to stage, the fans made the venue seem full. Throughout his entire performance I missed the synth-sounds but quite enjoyed Bejar’s comical bow and sip of his drinks after each and every song.
Destroyer’s set-list was of a wide-album variety : ‘Watercolours Into The Ocean’ off Rubies (2006), ‘Tinseltown Swimming in Blood’ off Ken (2017), ‘Chinatown’ off Kaputt (2011) ‘Times Square’ and ‘The River’ off Poison Season (2015), ‘Foam Hands’ off Trouble In Dreams (2008). “This is one of my two educational songs”, said Bejar introducing ‘Stay Lost’ off Ken (2017). The audience was treated with quite a bit of banter between songs, even though Bejar admitted that he doesn’t usually talk much at shows. Introducing ‘Streets of Fire’ off We’ll Build Them a Golden Bridge (1996). Bejar said: “This is a song I wrote at home, hungover in 1994. I thought it would be fun to write a song. Don’t tell my mom I was hungover”.
It did seem a bit odd to box up Destroyer’s wide range of genres into a simple, stripped down acoustic session. Bejar went from glam folk to midi orchestra rock, to lush easy-listening soft rock, to latin ballads throughout his impressive music career. Destroyer played for about an hour and while that is a bit underwhelming for someone with 11 albums under their belt – the fans were overjoyed and grateful. After all they’ve waited a long time to see Destroyer live.
Reviewer and Photographer : Annette Geneva
DESTROYER
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JESS LOCHE
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