dinner is served!

Perch Creek @ Lizotte’s, Newcastle NSW Australia 07/06/2018 written by Brendan Lewis.

Come dine with me, tonight we devour a scrumptioustches banquet of musical cuisine, served up by Melbourne indie-folksters, Perch Creek. The occasion, is to celebrate the bands’ freshly cooked, full flavoured, new self-titled album full of flavour! The location, what better place to host such a delectable feast than Lizotte’s in Newcastle! Lizotte’s say “Great foods and musical moods”, we shall see…… we….shall….see…

Dinner is served!...

The entree this evening is the smooth yet smokey ‘Daffodils’, with a sweet rich layer of female vocals. ‘Daffodils’ is served with a fresh side of greetings from the band before we dig-in to the song. This is followed up by ‘Where You Been’, with its’ spicy retro funk punch of flavour. Both songs auditoryaudietry recipes are mixed to perfection, for maximum satisfaction! The mix makes the chewy yet smooth trombone riffs in ‘Daffodils’ and the retro synth and incredible vocals in ‘Where You Been’, stand out to the forefront of my musical palatepallate, and makes my mouth water wanting more!

The band now have a fun delicious chat to the audience, before serving us the next three dishes, ‘Mama Sings’, ‘Saviour Someday’ and ‘Don’t Go Shining By’. ‘Mama Sings’ is like a decadent white/dark dual chocolate marble cake, soft yet dense, with dual male/female vocals, as the band all dance and bust a groove on stage like our musical pallates dancing in joy to the gorgeous musical flavours. ‘Saviour Someday’ starts with a confusing start as the band test the waters, then BAM! Our taste buds are hit with an up-beat rush of creamy blues funk. This song reminds me of a vanilla slice with its’ creamy smooth/fluffy uppulifting blues centre, with different yet still just as delicious female vocals to the previously heard female vocals in the songs prior, adding a new touch of flavour. The powdered icing that we all love on vanilla slices in this case, is some garnishing male vocals in the songs’ bnridge section, and some tantalisingly mouth-watering jazz piano solos to put the flavoursome touch to the end of the song. ‘Don’t Go Shining By’ is like a homemade key-lime tart out in the country, its’ incredibly high-quality female vocals are quintessentiallyquintescentially exquisite! However, this song has a very strong country (musical genre) tang, which I admire, but it’s not what my pallate preferes. All three of these songs leave me astounded at the perfectly well-cooked mix of sound tonight! All sounds are clear and just right for comfort on the ears, its’ loud, but just right to the point of me not requiring my live-music ear-plugs. I quite admire how the vocals and stand out layers such as trombone, piano etc, depending on the song, is set at the forefront of sound, yet not domineering to the rest.

The next three dishes are the bands’ party song as they inform us, ‘Get Back’ followed by ‘Parra’ and ‘No Place To Go’. ‘Get Back’ is like an outback texas spicy meat pie. It’s energetic fun-filled pastry exterior is filled with a strong hardy country centre, that personally sits more comfortably on my palate, and gets your attention as soon as your ears bite into the song, This musical meat pie is filled with a sauce of fiery palate tingling vocals with soft splashes of vocal harmonies and hook melodies in the chorus to really reel you ins, mixed with a secret ingredient adding that special winning taste….. It’s piano riffs. Mmmm, very tasty! What’s next chef? Up next is ‘Parra’ (that’s all that was written on the setlist) which has a smokey savourysavery folk intro of male/female vocals, that’s followed up with a dramatic heavy beat, warm gooey trombone ripples throughout, and a sassy funk….. This song is an awful lot like a lasagne! My gosh, it really is! The leading female vocals carry the songs’ saucy sound like the pasta holding the whole dish together, and that warm gooey trombone ripples, are like the cheese that a lasagne can’t be without. ‘No Place To Go’ is a hard one to put my finger on, it’s a bit “take it or leave it” for me personally, I mean I definitely appreciate its’ quality, and itst lead male with accompanying female vocal harmonies are quite tasty, but I feel the song’s a bit, flat, not in tone, but feel. This song is I think like an olive for me, in some moods I would probably enjoy this a lot more, but for now, take it or leave it.

As we near the sets’ completion, and thus the main meal, we sample some tasty musical treats like…… exactly like, ‘Belle’ which is a delicate, light fluffy white chocolate mousse-like dish, that’s is only eldest sibling Camilla in the spotlight, dazzling us all with her piano melodies, and the entire band singing together in perfect synchrony.  The sweet sensations of ‘Why Won’t You Come Home’ which is truly like a fun fresh watermelon tart, and is seemingly more up-beat and vibrant than the recorded song. And finally, the band thank us all and introduce us to each band member on stage, before serving up the main meal of the evening, ‘Gold Shop’. This song, I kid you not, is like the freakin’ pizza I ate for dinner before the showong I swear! Crispy blues/rock crust, holding full-flavour vocals like the flavoursome anchovies and prawns, and a spicy funk, giving that perfect all-round touch that makes your palate dance and melt.

‘Gold Shop’s energy, perfectly performed presentation and vibe demmands an encore, after all, where’s the dessert? The band re-emerge, then EileenIlene (I’m pretty sure) tells us that one day the band are going to send her up on stage for the encore and just leave her hanging, but not tonight fortunately! The crowd clap along to the songs’ introduction beat, and now the dessert dish is a perfect palate cleanser to finish off the musical fiesta, like a sweet, tangy and fruity well-balanced pavlova, with flakey trombone layers and warm bass lines like warmed up passion fruit puree, and topped off with wild blues rock fruit and a sensational sustained show-off blast of female vocals at the songs’ end.

*BURP!* Whoops! Pardon me! I’m so full, yet not to the point of bursting thankfully! This show was like a fine dining experience not just as in the way of entertainment, the music filled me up like a gourmet banquet, full of delectable mouth watering flavours and textures. Like any multi-course meal, there’s bound to bme something that you feel a bit neutral about, but all in all, this was a really pleasant enjoyable evening!