LIVE MUSIC REVIEW: Owl Eyes

LIVE MUSIC REVIEW: Owl Eyes
Sat May 4, The Governor Hindmarsh
by Max Burford

Picture this: it’s 10:30 on a Saturday night, you are struggling to keep your eyes open after playing football and a couple of beers have started to take their toll. You are about to see a concert, but you only know one song by the artist. Oh, and she was on Australian Idol. It’s not your ideal evening by any stretch. To compound this, the opening song gives you the impression that you are just about to watch another Gossling-style cutesy angel lady who will unfortunately drift off into obscurity in coming months.

How wrong I was.

Kicking off the first show on her debut national tour, Owl Eyes (AKA Brooke Addamo) and her three-piece band showcased a mashing together of pop, indie, electronica and banging vocals to produce a sound that was impossible not to bounce along to.

Through a sea of lingering smoke and coloured lights, Owl Eyes played her way through (I can only presume from the cheering) some of her crowd favourites, as well as catchy songs from her new album Nightswim, which were all received very warmly by her adoring fans.

As an added treat for those who were not already transfixed by her innocent-yet-seductive good looks and songs to match, Owl Eyes gave an energetic rendition of Music Sounds Better With You, the classic disco tune from Stardust.

The small but excitable crowd were treated to a delightful performance which saw Owl Eyes laughing and interacting with the audience, handing out high fives and jumping around the stage like she really enjoyed what she was doing (please learn from this, bands who think they are too cool to act like normal humans on stage).

After a two-song encore featuring some extravagant dance-offs with two guys from the opening act (Collarbones; the singer’s voice is phenommm), I was left with no doubt that my iTunes library would soon be seeing a dramatic increase in Owl Eyes songs.