REVIEW: Darwin Deez @The Metro 10.05.11

Darwin Deez. We’ve spoken about him before. Yes, he’s the one with the Jew-fro, the knitted granddad jumper and the woeful teenage moustache. Yet he’s also the one with the very infectious pop tunes and the rumours of life-changing fun-filled live-shows. So could Sydney’s indie-kids put aside their love/hate relationship with hipsterdom enough to actually enjoy themselves this evening? We’d have to wait and see...

Melbourne’s Owl Eyes warmed us up with some lilting girlie-pop, in the style of Lykke Li or Sia, or one of those dulcet lady singers. The diminutive blonde had some recognisable ditties from the radio, and seemed to have some quite tidy melodies. Word has it that she’s a former Australian Idol contestant too. And, as was pointed out by a passing crowd member, looks to have since gone through an indie-car-wash. “Phooosh. Feathers. Whoosh. More beads. Phooosh”, said the catty by-stander. I thought she looked lovely, as did the man of the hour, but more on that later…

Those who caught Darwin Deez behind the decks at LAST NIGHT last week had some idea what to expect tonight; the man just likes to enjoy himself. Who else leads their whole band in synchronized line-dances to The Spice Girls and Willow Smith between songs before dropping rap interludes about “Jesus fartpants”?   He then went on to professes his undying love for their 19 year old support act: “Sometimes I imagine myself lying down next to Owl Eyes. She’s all woman. All woman!”

With only the one album to choose from, we got to hear most of it. “But make no mistake”, says Darwin, “These are the best songs I’ve ever made in my fucking life. I flew on a plane to Australia to perform these songs, just to stress the enormity of this event. This is happening. And it won’t stop”. So we got to hear Up in the Clouds, DNA and a soulful rendition of Bed Space which somehow morphed into Paul Simon’s Call Me Al. The band was particularly tight with special mentions to the furry koala-capped bassist’s whose moves were energetically camp to say the least.

Upbeat throughout, hit single Radar Detector whipped the room into a frenzy, before an encore of “a song for anybody feeling sad tonight” and the very danceable Constellations rounded off proceedings. You couldn’t not have had fun. It would’ve required the strongest-willed hipster-hater to do so.  While I’d applaud your determination, you’d have been on your lonesome tonight.

RICHARD SCOTT