Kurt Vile is playing his third Melbourne sold out show in as many days, a back-to-back run of gigs in support of his recent Laneway Festival appearance.
Thanks to the runaway success of his 2011 album Smoke Ring For My Halo, and with the release of his latest album Wakin On A Pretty Daze late last year, tickets to these Melbourne sideshows were snapped up quickly.
Such has been the overwhelmingly positive reception of these albums, both of which are steeped heavily in Vile’s trademark brand of understated, Americana-tinged indie rock, that one could be forgiven for thinking that the tone of tonight’s performance is a foregone conclusion.
The Corner Hotel bandroom is packed with Vile devotees. Everyone present knows these tracks, delivered in Vile’s typically mellow fashion – which begs the question, what more can he bring to his already much-admired material?
From the moment the Philadelphian and his band unassumingly take to the stage, it’s clear that Vile has a charisma that belies the low-pitched, restrained nature of his albums.
It’s an understated charm of the awkward, endearing kind, a presence that seems entirely uncultivated. Vile plays his chords with thumb crooked over the top of the guitar neck, elbow hoisted awkwardly in the air, and neck hunched down towards the mic. Peering with one eye through the curtain of hair that hangs across his face, the musician’s expression flicks in and out of the focused scowl of concentration.
Throughout the gig, his between-song banter is limited to a handful of shy addresses. But as he steps straight into ‘Wakin’ On A Pretty Day’, a haze of beautifully bended notes and interplay between electric and acoustic guitars brings a whole new level of vitality to the music.
In fact, one of the biggest misconceptions about Vile’s tunes is that it’s uniformly muted and chilled out – as the profusion of a certain type of smoke that was shared around at his Laneway festival appearance might suggest. This narrow view is resoundingly refuted by the incredible performance that unfolds tonight, as the group imbue their songs with an unexpected ferocious energy.
Indeed, as the beautiful tones of ‘Wakin’ On A Pretty Day’ morph into a gritty, swampy rock out, thanks to the liberal use of the overdrive pedal, Vile demonstrates the brilliant duality between sparsity and vivacity that goes on to shape this excellent set.
The most electrifying, energetic moments of the night come in the form of some of Vile’s older material. ‘Hunchback’, from 2009’s Childish Prodigy, is an amazingly grungy jam, with wailing guitars driven over a repeated pattern of chords.
Likewise, ‘Freak Train’ with its galloping drumbeat, screaming vocals, and saxophone, courtesy of talented multi-instrumentalist Jesse Trbovich, might have surprised some of the more recent Vile fans, proving that the group don’t just give good acoustic.
The depth of Vile’s musicianship is an aspect that might not be overt on his albums, but it’s a gift that is in obvious existence this evening. Whether he’s dexterously fingerpicking his acoustic guitar, like on the sweet ‘Blackberry Song’, or rocking out in a whirlwind of long curls, he and the Violators leave no doubt of their consummate musicianship.
Vile sticks to the acoustic guitar for ‘On Tour’, with the rich jangling tone of his instrument perfectly complementing the wavering notes from Trbovich’s electric playing.
Two of the most beautifully fragile and stunningly realised songs of the evening are the resonant ‘Goldtone’, and the solo acoustic rendition of ‘Peeping Tomboy’, the latter’s seeming vulnerability which sees Vile at his most captivating.
In his idiosyncratically recalcitrant fashion, the singer-songwriter keeps the audience wanting more, with the notable omission of ‘Baby’s Arms’ and ‘Ghost Town’ (despite beseeching requests from the crowd for the latter).
A false start gives away the encore choice of the evening, but ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’ is still rapturously received, and is a poignant closer for tonight’s sublime performance – a gentle reminder that although it was Smoke Ring For My Halo that may have launched Vile into the mainstream, he’s a man with a depth of inimitable talent.
