Live Review: Little Dragon, George Maple

With Sydney wet and cold outside, ex-pat George Maple could be forgiven for thinking she was back in London for winter. Opening with Fixed, her most successful cut to date and a darling of blogs and indie music journals, Maple was soulful and intense, cresting over trippy beats and glitchy synth lines.

Her songs are repetitive and textured, and felt alternately overdone and underdone. They never feel as great as they should be, but all of them benefit from Maple’s gorgeous vocals thumbing out the centre. The set ended with a new single – well-formed and truly promising. The future looks bright, whether in London or rainy Sydney.

Little Dragon are continuing a long tradition of Swedish acts making better and more relevant pop than the English-speaking world. Opening with scattered lights and noise, the band built tension till an inevitable, dance-able release.

Singer Yukimi Nagano worked a sell out crowd that was well-lubricated for a Tuesday night. Cool, paradoxically loose and tight, the band breezed through a hook-laden set. Keys and keytars were run through a series of filters, pedals and effects, spinning out a heady mix all held down by Erik Bodin thumping behind a (mostly) natural kit.

After mining their strong back catalogue, the band slid into a stellar final third. Recent singles Paris and Klapp Klapp were justifiably well received, being candidates for their best songs to date. Klapp Klapp especially improved from the looseness and dynamism of the live setting.

The night was often built, however, on free-flowing jams. It meant the crowd got more than they paid for, but whether that was what punters wanted likely varied from person to person, and from song to song. But Little Dragon are tight and accomplished, and excel at locking on to a groove and staying there. It was refreshing to see a group where the focus was clearly on the whole.