Bobby Alu @ Mojos Bar
w/ Natalie Carmody
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Sundays are for pleasure. They were built for trailing through sand barefoot and lazy lounging on the couch. They’re for text messages to friends saying you’re caught up with housework when you haven’t left your bed yet. As an artist, Bobby Alu emphasises the relaxed nature of the best day of the week. Both in personality and musical direction, he arguably represents what Sundays are made for.
For this tour, Alu decided to collect ukulele artists like seashells. He lined the supporting acts across the stages of his national tour, like treasures across the coastline. It was a decision that seemed so seamless, with Perth’s own local muse Natalie Carmody standing sturdy against the wave of adoration from a crowd who were, at worst, lighthearted. The room was taken back by a woman on stage with only a ukulele as support. The amount of music that was heard seemed different to the image you saw in front of you. The melody drifted high and low, her voice acting as its own support as she considered concepts of betrayal and forgiveness. A modesty was reflected, as the crowd didn’t let in a moment of silence between song changes from applauding. Across Carmody’s set, a gentleness tumbled off the stage, impacting the atmosphere for the remainder of the evening.
Bobby Alu walked on stage with a team of accomplished musicians. Forming a new outfit for a collection of songs that date back over a decade, there were bound to be noticeable differences. Yet, there were only improvements. Alright started the set with an indulgent and thorough introduction piece. This was clearly a group that relished in making sure their sound was on point. From My Style with its explosive vocals and delicious bass plucking, to his latest single Finally ending with a glorious traditional percussion performance, Alu is always going to be a musician that is best served live. On the left-side of the room however, the acoustics echoed ever slightly, which probably no one noticed but it was enough to condense certain areas of the dancefloor more so.
Across the sampling of the new album to be released soon (release date yet to be confirmed), Coast is Clear and Otherside stand out proudly as an extension of his signature chill vibe. In some of his past releases however, it did feel like there was a loss of the element of magic you hear in the recorded versions, versus when they’re played right in front of you. That’s probably a feat to sound better live than recorded, but it would be so great if Alu’s voice just came across a little more pronounced. Imagine getting serenaded by him like that any day you wanted to. No hate though. Still dope.
ANNIE MUNROE
Photos by Adrian Thomson
