Dawn Landes @ Northcote Social Club 10.7.08

What better way to spend a horrendously icy July evening than taking in some toasty acoustic folk at the Northcote Social Club? On her first tour of Australia and with three albums behind her, Dawn Landes has generated some well deserved buzz for her distinct brand of indie folk and attracted a big turnout on this cold, cold night.

Luluc opened the evening with a set of charming folk songs performed with honesty and an endearing awkwardenss. Zoe Randell is a talented songwriter with a lovely voice, while Steve Hassett provided impeccable guitar and harmonies (much different than his role of bass player/whipping boy in Wagons). "Little Suitcase" and Randell's adaptation of "Midnight Special" the standouts. The minimal, lilting songs warmed the room into a cosy ambience and perfectly prepared us for Ms Landes.

The opening of the set was a little jarring, Landes roughly jamming to some prerecorded noise she "made in her kitchen". It was obvious early on that this is an artist that kicks against being pigeon-holed. Inane moments blended with the sublime, noisy with the quiet, rough with the smooth...a pretty musical mess that constantly had the audience guessing. In the category of the sublime, "Twilight" was all goosebump inducing magic. Requesting the lights go down all except for her favourite pink one, Landes delivered this sweet song in near darkness with a tenderness and fragility that had the room spellbound. "Tired of This Life" and "Dig Me A Hole" provided further moments of acoustic exquisiteness, her remarkable voice coming to the fore in the latter.

Any preconceptions the audience held of seeing a folky singer/songstress were dismissed with Landes stabbing at pedals to produce loud stomping backing tracks for some numbers and convert her acoustic guitar into a crackling electric buzzsaw in others. The absurd "Picture Show" was totally confounding while edgier numbers such as "I Don't Need No Man" saw Dawn rocking right out and longing for the backing of a rock 'n roll band. Consisting mostly of songs from recent album "Fireproof", this was an intriguing, unpredictable set of folk and indie pop with a generous application of offbeat humour. For her cover of Peter Bjorn and John's "Young Folks", Landes was joined on stage by Dan and Mike of The Drones parping away on kazoos. Whacky and trite, sure, but quite amusing. Other covers included an obscure 60's French pop number penned by a supermodel and a great rendition of Tom Waits' "Green Grass" that was equal parts cute and macabre. That's how you do it, Scarlett.

The night was closed out with a grooving "Bodyguard" and, appropriately, the serene "Goodnight Lover". Although Landes expressed nervousness over playing solo, this was the work of a natural born performer who effortlessly creates an amiable bond with her audience. With cheeky charisma and a sense of adventure that is a joy to experience, her songs are an expression of a wild imagination and penchant for the strange and beautiful. All without a hint of conceit or pretentiousness. Just Dawn being Dawn.


James Baker