Live Review: Food Court, Babaganouj, Woodland

Food Court

Woodland specialise in smooth, deep grooves, propelled by bass and splashy drums, and coloured with reverbed vocals and gentle sax. The combination of elements of psych and jazz atop a soft-rock foundation led to mixed reactions from the crowd, some of whom weren’t quite sure what to make of it. Take It From The Top featured light, jazzy guitar, evoking a slow pan across a city skyline, but soon picked up into a playful jam, with tight tom fills and a pretty guitar solo that didn’t outstay its welcome, whilst the closer, Arthur’s Delight, could have easily been a Mac DeMarco song with a little studio magic. The set was occasionally meandering, but steered well clear of pretension, and generally satisfied the crowd.

Brisbane power-pop hitmakers Babaganoüj soon appeared, and in spite of some equipment and sound problems, won over the crowd just about instantly with their bittersweet, swooning boy-girl vocals fused with propulsive guitars and drums. The red-hot licks of Love Loathe Love You and It’s Rainin’ It’s Summer stood out (possibly because guitarist Charles Sale’s amp was up a bit too high), while new single, Bluff, provided a melancholy respite, beginning with simply strummed chords and vocals from bassist Harriette Pilbeam before blossoming into a noisy, atmospheric set-piece.

It seemed as though a fair chunk of the crowd had funnelled out by the time Food Court took the stage, but those who stuck around were rewarded with gutsy, macho garage-rock with lashings of energy. The band’s presence was cheerful and blokey as all get-out: with banter about cheap beers and on-mic burps, the band clearly comfortable relating to the crowd (who seemed at least a few drinks in as well).

Halfway through, She’s Away rewarded their attention: introduced as an ‘accidental shoegazer’, it was the punchy drums and sung-shouted chorus that really stuck, and soon had the room jumping around. A new track, Already Asleep, had bags of energy but didn’t provide much to hang onto melodically, but the closer, Going Home, soon rectified things. The snappy drumming and in-your-face distorted power chords appeared again, but this time alongside a snarling, catchy lead vocal.