Live: Dappled Cities

Fowler's Live - Thu Jun 10
Fresh from a reportedly dazzling few shows at Brighton's The Great Escape Festival, indie popsters Dappled Cities returned home for their final Zounds tour. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell everyone about it.

    Adorning the stage at Fowler’s Live tonight are three of Australia’s most underappreciated bands. Fire! Santa Rosa Fire! might be new on the scene from a national perspective, but the small collection of loyal fans who gathered tonight are probably all scratching their heads wondering why this lot aren’t one of the most sought-after new bands in the country. That said, I did miss their set tonight. Who’d have thought bands come on to play at 7:30? I'm sure they were awesome, they always are.

    So we begin with Brisbane’s The John Steel Singers. In the short time we’ve gotten to know these six hairy, plaid-shirted indie types, they simply haven’t put a foot wrong. Each new song of theirs that pops up on the radio has only turned more heads and increased the number of gushing appreciators. And their live show justifies the growing chorus of praise.

    One of the few bands with their own brass section, The John Steel Singers exhibit impressive variety within their indie framework, and vibrate on a frequency close to that of gamma radiation. Their songs seamlessly blend into each other, a sonic hailstorm effortlessly segueing into a bouncy ballad. Inconstancy is their very essence, and they pull it off without a wrongly-placed foot. The promise of a debut album “hopefully sometime in the near future” pricks a few ears in the crowd before they close with a stomping version of Wrecking Ball.

    The underappreciation for Dappled Cities can most obviously be seen in the disappointing crowd numbers tonight. I know it’s a school night and the Syndey five-piece are on the last tour of third album Zounds since releasing it almost a year ago, but for such a delightfully fun group of lads, you’d think they’re better than the 300-odd on show tonight.

    Live, these guys are an interesting lot. Dual frontmen Dave Rennick and Tim Derricourt bounce off each other like a couple of highly-charged, oppositely polarised particles, while the rhythm section remain lead-footed throughout the set. Derricourt in particular, with his cheesy smile and squirmish dance moves, feeds off the little energy in the crowd to create an obvious focal point.

    Dappled Cities are like the Australian Wolf Parade. Their dreamy indie pop lifts you up with its buoyancy and takes you on magical journeys through Paddle Pop forests and sugary snowfields. Zounds tracks like The Night Is Young At Heart and Stepshadows catalyse a frontrow ho down, while earlier hits like Fire Fire Fire and Holy Chord make for some nostalgic listening for older fans. Their massively percussive style is emphasised in the live arena, which surprisingly makes for some danceable tunes. The Price in particular gets the whole room shaking (including some drugged-up, brown-jacketed knobhead who thought he was the star and repeatedly climbed onto the front of the stage).

    But even Dappled Cities’ undying optimism couldn’t detract from the white elephant in the room, which ironically was only able to fit thanks to the poor turn-out. Fowler’s just seemed like a misguided choice in venue for tonight, and the sparseness of the room made for a slightly hollow atmosphere. But instead of complaining about all the lemons, Dappled Cities made lemonade and entertained the relatively small group of fans out on this chilly June night

Words & pic: Jimmy Bollard

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