First published on Collapse Board (11/10/2010).
First things first: a small apology. I keep posting comments that bands, especially those in Brisbane, really need to stop trying to be either Vampire Weekend or Arcade Fire. But then last week I saw a band of what I would have called the Arcade Fire ilk that made me consider my previous position.
On paper (i.e. their Myspace page) Inland Sea sound like a band that should instantly cause my teeth to grind, describing themselves as ‘a ten member group based in Brisbane who perform acoustic experimental folk music’. They also list Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and Grizzly Bear in their Top 8 Myspace friends. But the difference between Inland Sea and so many of their Brisbane, and indeed Australian, contemporaries is that Inland Sea are really spectacular. As in really fucking spectacular.
Having said that they don’t keep it up for the whole of their set, having been given an overly long time to fill for such a young band and their acknowledged under-rehearsing, due to being a very last minute replacement for The Medics, means there are a few glitches along the way. But for maybe five or six of the songs they played they were utterly breathtaking. Totally spellbinding; you just couldn’t look away, you didn’t want it to stop. Even a week later, as I write this, I’m still buzzing and can’t wait to see them again. This doesn’t happen to me very often. Being a great band isn’t playing to the converted, it’s playing to people who have never heard your songs before and making them want to tell everyone they know about you. After 40 minutes with Inland Sea I just want to shout their name from the rooftops.
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