Linc and the Insiders

For those who’ve witnessed the past decade of Tasmania music, Linc Le Fevre has always been prominent in its light. The iconic Hobart
singer/songwriter has past graced the scene in many outfits, with Fell to Erin or his time with Enola Fall being the most recent. His latest musical incarceration, Linc Le Fevre and the Insiders, played their debut show last Thursday at North Hobart’s Republic Bar.

Young up-and-coming band-whore, Sam J Nicholson, began the night, performing along with his World of Women’s Tennis. He began the set introducing this next song as a karaoke number, citing that lyrically he will be addressing relationships and the annoying instance of stolen washing. With nothing but a backing tape, Sam’s first venture into the eyes and ears of the audience projected a lyrically clever individual with an awkward instrument-less stance. The track got me thinking about the humble story-telling ways of Darren Hanlon somehow combine with the lounge-pop-loveliness of Elvis Costello. Despite the fact that this particular song was a departure from the rest of his set, the song was an obvious highlight. From this point on, Sam invited his collection of friends to perform his more folk orientated material.

Musically, the World of Women’s Tennis is an accomplished collective, using violins, guitars, keyboards and harmonies to seduce the audience. As the set went on it became apparent just how great an indie-folk front man and songwriter Sam is. Unfortunately however, aside from the fantastic Jens Lekman sendoff reference, I couldn’t help but miss the apparently awkward tape-deck performer, of the set’s opener.

Linc began his set with a compilation of his solo works. It was the typical great Australian voice combine with acoustic intricacies that we’ve come to expect. The melodies were engaging and the lyrics were quaint. Linc looked obviously thrilled to be back performing in front of such an enthusiastic crowd as he delivered rich introductions throughout his performance. The Insiders features Henry Nichols (Drums), Richard Armstrong (Bass) and Rob Grundel (Keys), and was reported to be Lincoln's songs hit with ‘more soul and more swagger than ever before’. This is a completely accurate remark as many times during the night it felt like Linc had been writing a sister record to Ryan Adams’s Gold; using rich organs, cascading drums and consistent guitar swings. Obviously the band is incredibly capable and delivered great rock ‘n’ roll lines as; “Don’t let these mother fuckers get you down”, but when all was said and done, despite the fact that it was brilliant to see these clearly dissimilar songs being performed outside of Fell to Erin, the sheer potency of Linc’s solo performance stole the night and eclipsed a worthy band in Linc le Fevre and the Insiders.

Never-the-less, the venue full and the audience was audibly satisfied. A solid, if unspectacular, debut onto the Hobart music scene.

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