Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Moshi Moshi night
Moshi Moshi night: Peter Von Poehl, Absentee, Architecture In Helsinki
The Purple Turtle, 14 July
The Moshi Moshi night was beautifully put together, each act warming things up a little more, in perfect synch with the venue which, by the end of the night, was roughly the hottest place I’ve ever been.
First up was Peter Von Poehl, and he’s a great opener. He’s from Sweden, I think, and he works that Scandinavian shtick, singing slightly twee folky songs and looking cute and skinny and like he should get out more. Between songs, he tells a story about waking up one morning to find a mouse looking him right in the eye. His landlord sets traps, and soon there is a mouse massacre. He tells it with brilliant timing, whimsy, deadpan style. Maybe it should be a B-side.
Absentee play lovely, lolloping songs that make you want to sit round a campfire, eating beans and talking to your horse. The singer, Daniel Michaelson, rivals Antony Johnsons for having the voice you least expect to come out of that body. He’s a skinny little thing with a gravelly, bassy, soothing sound pouring out of his mouth. Their album, Donkey Stock, includes tonight’s ace, rollicking closing number, Something To Bang, and My Dead Wife, which has an inspired, mournful segue into You’re The One That I Want.
The stage looks empty, we’re waiting for the last band, and Architecture In Helsinki, who are crouching out of sight, slowly stand up like time-lapse flowers in spring. They bring the same kind of grinning, good joy too. There’s eight of them, from Melbourne (they chose their name because they like how it sounds), and they take turns to sing, dance and play a school-orchestra array of instruments that I think includes keyboards, guitar, clarinet, tuba, trumpet, recorder, trombone and tambourine. It’s a ramshackle operation but don’t be fooled - they know what they’re doing. The songs are crafty, melodic gems; sweet, short and anarchic. (The new single, Maybe You Can Owe Me, has It’s 5! on the back, maybe my favourite song.) Everyone is happy. They come back for an encore (and apparently because the bouncer wouldn’t let them out of the back door) to a frankly adoring crowd. And they give us a cover of Love Is The Drug that provides me with a fabulous ‘Oh, it really is, it’s like I’m hearing the words for the first time’ moment. Then they’re off stage, my cheeks hurt from smiling, and the Moshi Moshi DJ turns out to be the man who owns every one of my favourite records. Oh, what pleasures there are to be had.
Artrocker July 2005
The Purple Turtle, 14 July
The Moshi Moshi night was beautifully put together, each act warming things up a little more, in perfect synch with the venue which, by the end of the night, was roughly the hottest place I’ve ever been.
First up was Peter Von Poehl, and he’s a great opener. He’s from Sweden, I think, and he works that Scandinavian shtick, singing slightly twee folky songs and looking cute and skinny and like he should get out more. Between songs, he tells a story about waking up one morning to find a mouse looking him right in the eye. His landlord sets traps, and soon there is a mouse massacre. He tells it with brilliant timing, whimsy, deadpan style. Maybe it should be a B-side.
Absentee play lovely, lolloping songs that make you want to sit round a campfire, eating beans and talking to your horse. The singer, Daniel Michaelson, rivals Antony Johnsons for having the voice you least expect to come out of that body. He’s a skinny little thing with a gravelly, bassy, soothing sound pouring out of his mouth. Their album, Donkey Stock, includes tonight’s ace, rollicking closing number, Something To Bang, and My Dead Wife, which has an inspired, mournful segue into You’re The One That I Want.
The stage looks empty, we’re waiting for the last band, and Architecture In Helsinki, who are crouching out of sight, slowly stand up like time-lapse flowers in spring. They bring the same kind of grinning, good joy too. There’s eight of them, from Melbourne (they chose their name because they like how it sounds), and they take turns to sing, dance and play a school-orchestra array of instruments that I think includes keyboards, guitar, clarinet, tuba, trumpet, recorder, trombone and tambourine. It’s a ramshackle operation but don’t be fooled - they know what they’re doing. The songs are crafty, melodic gems; sweet, short and anarchic. (The new single, Maybe You Can Owe Me, has It’s 5! on the back, maybe my favourite song.) Everyone is happy. They come back for an encore (and apparently because the bouncer wouldn’t let them out of the back door) to a frankly adoring crowd. And they give us a cover of Love Is The Drug that provides me with a fabulous ‘Oh, it really is, it’s like I’m hearing the words for the first time’ moment. Then they’re off stage, my cheeks hurt from smiling, and the Moshi Moshi DJ turns out to be the man who owns every one of my favourite records. Oh, what pleasures there are to be had.
Artrocker July 2005
