Album Review: Vaudeville Smash - Dancing For The Girl

10 July 2013 | 9:20 pm | Carley Hall

Vaudeville Smash’s debut accomplishes the sometimes unattainable; not one track goes by unnoticed, and that’s a feat to be commended.

Disco? Check. Jazz flute? Why not. A bit of '80s stadium synth just to mess with you further? Hell yes. Overall kitsch factor: off the chart. Melbourne's Vaudeville Smash have unleashed their debut after kicking around the traps for the past couple of years (they played SXSW twice in that time). The brothers Lucchesi and a couple of buddies have wowed audiences of that pedigree as well as their hometown haunts with what can only be described as disco funk rock. Well, no, there can be many more tags applied, but that's the most encompassing, and thank God because Dancing For The Girl offers up 13 tracks of carefree revelry rarely heard or embraced by fickle music fans. You'd be a fool not to get on board.

In saying that, it's totally forgivable to question whether these chaps are for real from opener Ghouls. The first choral 'oh' that eases into the brisk, '80s electric drumbeat and skyward synth are very likely to inspire a giggle. The man with the golden pipes is Marc Lucchesi, and he plays a mean bit of sax, too. Going through a procession of lovelorn emotions, from dissing holy matrimony (Diamonds), to admitting his amorous intentions (I Got That Feeling) or accepting it's best just to let things die (Honeymoon), it's clear the guy's got a nice set of tenor chops. They're put to further good use with scatty boho flute piping in Devil Said, a glorious kitschy gem that revels in jiving guitars and its sassy beat.

Vaudeville Smash's debut accomplishes the sometimes unattainable; not one track goes by unnoticed, and that's a feat to be commended.