Live Review: The Preatures, Klo, Tiger Choir

Winter is not just coming, it’s loudly announced with Hobart’s Dark Mofo arts festival. It demands you embrace the cold, the dark and all the weirdness and wildness that has become synonymous with this festival since its inception two winters ago.

The Preatures encountered Dark Mofo at the start of the festival and were all too aware their gig didn’t quite fit in with the avant-garde art that encapsulates the festival through its creator, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). 

The support kicked off at the too early time of 7.30pm, which was a bit of an insult for local act Tiger Choir. The audience had barely sipped their first Moo Brew before the Hobart five-piece took to the stage with all the energy of a band not only hitting their stride but moving so well they leave others in their wake. 

Tiger Choir’s most recent single, Shani, has the ear of triple j with barely an hour or two going by without the single gracing the airwaves. Dark Mofo-goers were excited to hear what the band had to offer, a tight sound befitting their synth pop melodies with nice use of harmonies that have them sounding like a mash-up of The Beach Boys, Bloc Party and Animal Collective — in a good way. 
A solid performance also came from Melbourne duo Klo. The atmospheric beats at the start had a few people heading to the bar. However, the crowd’s focus shifted back to the stage once the vocals from Chloe Kaul kicked into full swing. Klo was perhaps too subdued and complex for the likes of the full to the brim Odeon Theatre. 

Pop-rock ‘90s style with a good dose of Motown thrown in from The Preatures was what this audience craved. Frontwoman Isabella Manfredi could be the love child of Blondie and Chrissie Hynde — she perspires charisma and has a voice to back it up. 

The band quickly developed a love-hate relationship with the crowd who refused to shut up in softer moments of beauty like Two Tone Melody but was all too happy to throw away their hipster sensibilities for the cover of The Angels’ Am I Ever Going To See Your Face Again? (yes, with the appropriate call and response). Hits from last year’s Blue Planet Eyes had everyone dancing, with highlights Cruel and Is This How You Feel? obvious favourites. A nice surprise for the encore was Take A Card, in which guitarist Gideon Bensen takes lead vocals on and smashes. 

Manfredi, sunglasses-clad not for coolness but rather “a piece of plastic removed from an eye issue”, told the crowd to “enjoy the art” as she left the stage. Despite the obvious sarcasm, that’s exactly what the Dark Mofo audience did before they went back out into the bleak night…