The realms of ferocious prog rock and emotive synth-pop rarely seem to overlap, unless you were listening to Triple J this morning that is…
Having wrapped up the Groovin The Moo 2014 tour and sideshows last week (including their final show at Mebourne’s Palace Theatre before it closes), Karnivool checked in with Triple J breakfast hosts Matt And Alex this morning for the regular ‘Like A Version’ segment.
The ARIA-winning prog-rock five-piece’s stripped back version of Asymmetry highlight ‘We Are’ was a winner, but the true highlight was their winning cover of London Grammar’s ‘Hey Now’.
Karnivool re-configured their characteristically fierce, complex sonic territory to match the emotive realms of the British trip-pop trio’s popular single with frontman Ian Kenny acting as the perfect gender-bending substitute for London Grammar singer Hannah Reid.
Beneath Kenny’s impassioned vocal performance, the ‘Vool’s version of ‘Hey Now’ created a bubbling tension with Mark ‘Hoss’ Hosking’s cycled guitar plucking contrasting with Drew Goddard’s picked-out acoustic guitar part.
It’s precisely the kind of ‘it shouldn’t work but it does’ rendition that has made the Like A Version series so damn popular and probably even trumps Arctic Monkeys’ soulful take on Tame Impala from last week.
With the dust settled on Groovin The Moo, Karnivool are now cranking the tour pedometer once more, headed to Europe this June for a run of headline dates and summer music festival appearances, including slots at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park (Germany), Sonisphere (UK), Volt Festival (Hungary), Provinssirock (Finland), Sticky Fingers (Sweden), and Novarock (Austria) – to name a few.
Meanwhile, their Like A Version subjects London Grammar are headed to Australia this July as pat of the 100-artist strong Splendour In The Grass 2014 lineup.
The trio have also just sold out their two massive Splendour 2014 sideshows at Festival Hall in Melbourne and Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, less than a week after tickets went on sale last Friday. It also marks the second sold out Australian tour for London Grammar this year, following their headline shows in January after appearances at Falls Festival,Southbound WA, and Field Day.
It seems Aussies simply can’t get enough of the band, with their debut album If You Wait shooting straight to #2 on the ARIA charts upon release last September, which Tone Deaf reviewer remarked, “at their best, London Grammar are intimate, eerie, and mysterious… an intimate and emotional experience.”
