theredsunband, Souls on Board @ Northcote Social Club

I have a feeling I’ve seen Souls on Board somewhere before. The name sounds familiar, but I can’t say I recognised the band once I saw them. What I did recognise was a crowd who didn’t understand what they were watching. We arrived at the Northcote Social Club to catch an energetic and enjoyable end to the set, being watched by a lazy crowd sitting on the floor. Now, this is my first trip to this relatively new venue, and maybe such behaviour is common in this laid back room, but it certainly did no justice to the performance on stage.

Fortunately the room filled up a bit more and people decided to stand by the time theredsunband came on stage. I’ve often felt that theredsunband belong in Melbourne, yet tonight that connection doesn’t seem quite there. Perhaps it’s the room again (if you’ve never been to NSC either, they do have a rather unique bandroom), but having seen them play shows at The Tote and The Evelyn where it seemed like they were “home”, tonight’s show just didn’t have the same impact. Despite the stage being lower than in either of those venues, the sound wasn’t as loud, and there was not the same connection between band and crowd. Where the last shows had seen punters up against the stage, tonight saw a (perhaps unhealthy) distance between the crowd and the band.

That being said, the band played well, as always, and proclaimed their happiness to be visiting us again. In recent months the band has been working on their second album, and the set included five or six new songs, which it was great to hear. Particularly the opening song stood out, with it’s soft extended intro eventually leading into a louder part around the time most people thought it was finished. Other highlights included Astrovisionary, with a feedback solo which always pleases, singles Sleep Forever and Pavement, and a rockier version of Farewelling. The biggest crowd response was kept for Devil Song, but once again the sound let the band down, with the driving guitar consistently drowned out by the organ. In fact all night, every time Sarah’s distortion came in – loud, as it should be – the guitar seemed to get turned down in the mix.

The vocals still shone through though. On album Sarah’s voice is soft and sweet. While live she still retains this, slips and creaks in the voice during the highpoints of songs certainly add an extra edge to them. And the interplay between her voice and those of drummer John and Organ/Tambourinist Liz are the true strength of theredsunband’s music. Three part vocal harmonies over a wash of distortion and organ is such a wonderful sound to hear.

There was no encore unfortunately, but since half the crowd left as soon as they first stepped off the stage, the band can hardly be blamed for this. The fact that the other half of us hung around hoping on the off chance anyway says something about how good this band is. While I still believe theredsunband belong in Melbourne, perhaps they are not so suited to Northcote.