Live Review: Greg Cartwright & Jack Oblivian

It’s an absolutely gorgeous Brisbane autumn afternoon as the few dozen lucky guests for this “secret show” loiter around the picturesque old room in the Botanical Gardens which is now quaintly known as The Garden Club.

With Memphis garage legends the Oblivians in town for the first time ever (playing the Woolly Mammoth later tonight) the Mere Noise label crew have touched base and organised a showcase for the solo material of band members Jack Oblivian (aka Jack Yarber) and Greg Cartwright (conversely sometimes referred to as Greg Oblivian). Both of these guys are veterans of numerous bands over the years so have mountains of songs at their disposal, making this is a pretty special opportunity to get up close and personal with these great songwriters and performers.

Jack Oblivian is up first – seated behind a drumkit but also toting a guitar, playing subtle percussion with his foot – and at the outset he’s joined by Cartwright on guitar as well, informing us that they’ve hardly ever played in this configuration before as they kick off with Honey I’m Too Old For You, before moving onto the Oblivians’ Happy Blues. It’s ragged and authentic, riffing off bluesy grooves, and Cartwright departs stage left leaving Oblivian to offer a completely solo take on Bobby Womack’s Lookin’ For A Love, giving it a frayed Velvet Underground-ish vibe.

A couple of local musos are prompted up to aid with percussion (various shakers and things to beat upon) as he moves onto Flash Cube (by his side-band Jack Oblivian & The Tennessee Tearjerkers), eventually finishing a more than fine introductory set with the fantastic Mama Don’t Get Off, which sounds for all the world like some incredible lost Nuggets gem.

After a short break, which most spend outside soaking up the sun with a drink firmly in hand, we’re ushered back into the beautiful old room to find Greg Cartwright about to kick off with just a guitar, his expressive voice and a lone mic stand, and from the opening bars of his band the Reigning Sound’s Wait & See you can tell that we’re in for a completely special experience. His torch song voice is so emotive and he seems completely at ease in solo mode – explaining that he’s totally lucky to have been lent a left-handed guitar at short notice, having lost his to a post-show mishap down in Melbourne – and he moves on through the gloriously languid Shine (by his project The Parting Gifts) and the powerful welcome Drowning (Reigning Sound) like this is his natural environment.

Cartwright conjures disparate moods and energies almost at will, and when he throws open the floor to requests he’s inundated with a barrage of suggestions, opting for a triumvirate of songs by his old band The Compulsive Gamblers (of which Yarber was also a member): the stripped-back and poignant Two Thieves, the vitriolic Sour & Vicious Man and vulnerable love ode Stop & Think It Over. The Parting Gifts’ Bound To Let Me Down finds him forlorn and wistful, segueing into the visceral resignation of Reigning Sounds’ I’ll Cry and the plaintive My Heart Is Beating (which he penned for former Shangri-La, Mary Weiss). His croaky voice carries so much heft but is also really versatile, and as he moves through a run of Reigning Sound tunes – Goodbye, Find Me Now and the anguished howl that is Reptile Style – the sound is strangely perfect in this most non-rocking of locales; it all just seems vaguely surreal but utterly perfect.

Old gospel song Live The Life sounds completely natural in his adept grip, as does The Compulsive Gamblers’ You Don’t Want Me and Reigning Sounds’ impossibly gorgeous Break It. He finishes abruptly after the upbeat Come A Little Closer – one of the Oblivians’ more recent tunes – and even though he goes on to provide another scintillating garage show with that band later tonight it’s this little private soiree that is going to stay in the minds of those lucky enough to be present for a long, long time indeed.