Live Review: The Clean

The Clean come out on stage and with a quick thank you they’re already playing.

The first song is a ten-minute instrumental. Set against loose drums and simple bass lines small lo-fi wails leap over fuzz distortion as guitarist David Kilgour plucks a tumbling treble-heavy melody to moody bass. Kneeling in front of his amp Kilgour controls his feedback tone expertly.

“Where are you from?” someone in the crowd yells between songs. “We’re from a small shit hole called New Zealand” Kilgour says with a proud smile. The set from one of the pioneer Dunedin Sound groups is the kind of gig that makes you want to start a band. There’s an honest friendship between the members that can be seen in the way they interact on stage and their jangle pop sound has grown up with them in a way that is admirable in a veteran band; less off-the-cuff but just as playful.

The Clean share the space on stage well, the guitarist and bassist facing each other instead of the crowd, drummer Hamish Kilgour between them. Hamish, the older Kilgour brother, has a fantastic vocal tone that is delivered with an understated warmth. The venue at PW1 is one massive long room with high ceilings and the crowd is lacking the size of the previous days of the sold-out festival. The smaller crowd serves to make the show feel that much more intimate which clearly suits this band just fine.