Although we’re at Liberty Social to celebrate the launch of Collarbones’ brilliant second album Die Young, it feels like a showcase for the national poster-boys of this slow-jam revival with Major Napier and Oscar Key Sung (of Oscar + Martin) being two of the three support acts.
This is club music for indie kids, made apparent by the fact that everyone on the sweaty, B.O.-infused dance floor is slow-grinding.
As Major Napier (aka Johnny Ross) swivels his hips while performing songs from his self-titled EP, Collarbones’ Marcus Whale and Travis Cook are at the front of the stage; swaying – drink in hand – dancing with rapper Html Flowers (aka Grant Gronewold).
The sexually-charged atmosphere continues, with Oscar Key Sung exhibiting his ever-improving vocals and also his biceps (sorry, they’re just very defined and impossible to ignore). On the floor, Gronewold gyrates on Whale’s leg and then Whale dry-humps Gronewold’s backside; it’s just that kind of night.
Gronewold, who Key Sung introduces as one of his best friends, steps up on stage to rap, but only after two false starts from technical malfunctions. “Keep dancing,” urges Oscar as he re-plugs the mic. Nailing a cover of Miguel’s “Sure Thing” to finish his set, with help from some back-up dancers.
Third support act I’lls is less RnB and more chilled pop but work their drum-pad and layered loops in an equally evocative manner. They also provide something different for the night as a predominately live, four-piece band, in contrast to the other three acts with their pre-programmed tracks and laptops.
Vocalist/drummer Simon Lam is gently captivating in “When I Know,” crooning, “When I know is the moment I will die,” over and over against escalating instrumentation, before setting up a multi-layered vocal loop that he then slices and chops up into a rhythm. To end the track, Lam switches the drum-pad for the drumkit and it feels like the entire set was building up to this incredible closing moment.
Finally Collarbones jump onto the stage, and are as bright and fun as anyone could have hoped for. Playing material mostly from Die Young, Cook mans the machines while Whale focuses on delivering his heart-aching lyrics.
To get into the mood for “Too Much,” Whale says, “Can we get a bit more shirtlessness around here?” and five dudes remove their tops. They change the pace with the ballad “Cocoon,” which is “dedicated to all the beautiful butterflies out there,” says Cook.
Next up is a party version of “Losing” that is “completely different to what’s on the album, it’s completely stupid,” explains Whale. Cook responds mock-scathingly, “It’s such a pain to enjoy genius.” It’s drum and bass heavy – much noisier than the album recording.
“Well that’s the end of that song,” says Whale with a minute to go. “There’s another 40 seconds of ambience but I don’t think you wanna listen to that.”
Cook takes this as a challenge and lets loose on the buttons. The first bar of “Don Juan” from their debut album Iconography plays and the audience writhes with joy. Unfortunately there’s some mysterious and distracting crackling during “Missing,” but all is forgotten for closer and crowd favourite “Beaman Park,” complete with an added “Jenny From The Block” chorus and a rap verse from Gronewold.
Whale invites everyone to dance on stage and people can’t rush up there fast enough. It’s an apt way to end a great night of sensitive, fluid and intelligent pop music that’s impossible to stand still to.
