Kid Sam

Appearing on the stage by himself, Seagull’s Chris Bolton may not have really looked that awkward, but his opening tune certainly sounded like it.
Before a mostly seated crowd, Bolton delivered some sombre sounds solo, before being joined by the rest of his band on percussion, bass and accordion.

The set that ensued was a mixture of ambient soundscapes and faster, jarring numbers that showed off Seagull’s knack at whacky musical timing. Little to no interaction with the crowd didn’t really help Bolton’s cause, and by set’s end it all seemed a little too weird this time around.

Next to the stage were Kiwis, Batrider, following the lead of Seagull and sending singer Sarah Chadwick onto the stage alone to open. With just her guitar, and all the while stalking over the microphone with hair shielding her face, she made quick work of letting people know this set would benefit from her voice. That voice was as rough as it was sweet – perfect for the kind of grunge that followed.

Filling out their sound with Sam on bass and Steph on drums, Batrider shone in all their grittiness (ironically enough). A highlight of their set came with Sarah and Steph singing together on one track, with utterly different voices combining for some cool sounds. Ending with a seriously lengthy and repetitive number drew mixed reactions, but overall the set was pretty great.

Kid Sam seem to be pulling all the right moves, having gained heaps of support slots since the release of their Australian Music Prize nominated debut last year. A headline tour was certainly what the people of Melbourne were calling for, too; especially judging from the back to back sold out performances here at the Northcote Social Club.

To complete the night’s hat trick, Kid Sam’s Kieran Ryan appeared on stage alone to open the set. Any questionable vocals were well and truly gone this time around, with Kieran’s voice as soothing as ever.

The set was, quite obviously, made up of predominantly first album material, though there were a few surprises thrown in here and there. One such addition was a cover of The Modern Lovers’ ‘Hospital’, with its choppy tempo really matching the duo’s sound and fitting in nicely.

For their own material, the addition of Chris Bolton on guitar and melodica for some numbers worked a treat to flesh out the sound a little. A heftier version of ‘A Black Ant’ and a newly reworked rendition of ‘The Sunday Bus’ also made for interesting and new variations from the set fans have been seeing for a while.

The soft and beautiful, ‘Close Your Eyes and it All Goes Black’ was last to appear in the hour long set, with chatter amongst the crowd being “shhh-ed” away for the tune’s entirety until Kieran finally got to sing the final line to complete silence – an eerie kind of feeling even he found amusing.

Judging from the response to this headline tour, Kid Sam look like they’ve made plenty of new friends and it’s not hard to see why – with songs as poignant as theirs it’s hard to not pay attention.

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