Turtle Tempo presented a pretty sweet, Saturday night line up at The Finsbury. Bristolian headliner James Humphrys packed the venue and provided some sweet tunes to sway to. Weirdly, this felt very much like Antipodean indie-rock to me. It had such an Ocean Alley//Sticky Fingers ease to it, that it would have been better placed playing out the half-broken stereo of a 90’s Toyota Corola driving the coast than in a North London pub. Something about the laid-back, rounded riffs, the cool reverb.
Interestingly, Luna Lake had already cast my mind towards the mainstream NZ indie rock scene. Though looking like they were about to revive the mod scene with barking Paul Weller vocals and hard-hitting pace, what they actually delivered was totally incongruent to this. The bass was appropriately loud but the set was mellow, so mellow – the bongos should have given this away.
The set kind of ambled along under invoked palm trees, those kind of crooning, strained but dreamy vocals leading the way. Both of these bands, curiously both Bristolian (if anybody has insight into this Bristol//NZ indie connection please let me know) would have gathered wild crowds at my beloved Eyegum Wednesday gigs in Wellington. A bizarre compliment, and strange advice, but if you can somehow send your music 11,701 miles across the globe, I’m sure it would be well received.
Szou actually stole this show very early on in the evening, I knew it the moment they played the most beautiful song about wanking I’ve ever heard. The crowd, though still filing in at this point, were totally engaged, wrapped in a the electricity of what can only be described as seriously good pop music. A welcome cool breeze in an un-air-conditioned room of indie rock. Zoe’s energy in performance is contagious, lyrically the songs are fun, cheeky, a little silly and a little serious.
Historically I have thought of The Finsbury as a relatively cursed venue, but you can read about that in my memoir. Whilst there were still many a well-mannered gentleman, holding the door open for me unnecessarily, Saturday 23rd was a certifiably normal evening, well-rounded gig with an easy-going crowd.