Live Review: Warpaint, DD Dumbo

At this secret show, we were directed from Camperdown Park around the corner to St Stephen's Anglican Church, a church with bibles in the pews, where services still take place on Sundays. There was no grog available (after all, a church is not a licensed venue), and the place was lit by professional lights and fairy lights strung between the pillars. The purple glow of the lighting was trying too hard to be atmospheric, when on its own the old world feel of a church, illuminated by candles, would be enough. Churches seem almost like the opposite of intimate, which they are so often billed as, actually feeling cavernous, and between sets an organist played, which seemed almost creepy and definitely disconcerting. Its sound echoed across the church like the opening to some indie hymn.
Melbourne's DD Dumbo opened proceedings. It was just Oliver Perry on stage with his guitar, a mic, a drum machine and loop pedals. His music worked well in the setting, bouncing off the walls and sounding lush and practiced, even chilling at times. His songs complemented the following set, sounding like something from The Fool, however, the setting was to his detriment. The crowd didn't gather around the altar, but instead sat back in the pews. The pews themselves meant that there was little sense of community, acting almost as a barrier between the artists and the audience, and restricting movement. There were, however, no complaints here over sound quality, which is often poor in church settings, where the acoustics lend themselves to an organ rather than a live band.
Ultimately the crowd gathered were here to worship at the altar of Warpaint. The four girls took to the stage to cheers after an awkward introduction, but the pews immediately became even more of a barrier, as Theresa Wayman encouraged the crowd to move, but they were mostly unable to. Warpaint played all the songs you'd want to hear, with Undertow and Composure real crowd pleasers. There was an attempt to harness the atmosphere of the venue, which worked best with the vocals of Wayman and Emily Kokal which were warm and filled the space, sounding almost ethereal. Tracks from this year's Warpaint got a vocal response, especially “dance song” Disco//Very. Alternating between both albums worked well, with the differences between washed-out guitar-pop and electronic vocals really coming to the fore and making the whole set feel rich and balanced. Of course Love Is To Die was an obvious high point, as well as the encore Baby, performed by a lone Kokal, before the rest of the band joined her for the closer.