MORGAN BAIN – EP Launch, Perth, 1 December 2012

Shane | 28 December 2012 | Reply

with Stillwater Giants/ Spoonful Of Sugar/Bedouin Sea
Saturday, December 1, 2012
The Rosemount Hotel
By Shane Pinnegar

Originally published in Xpress Magazine

With a new self-titled EP to launch hot on the back of consecutive WAM Category wins for Song Of The Year, Morgan Bain’s collaboration with drummer Callum Kramer is bearing real fruit, and there’s a buzz throughout The Rosemount in anticipation of their headline slot.

Unabashedly pop, SPOONFUL OF SUGAR threatened early on to tip the scales into saccharine territory, but quickly pulled things back in line with a bouncy guitar-drums-xylophone backing to Karin Page’s irrepressible vocals and catchy tunes.

STILLWATER GIANTS serve up a set of classy indie-pop a la Muse, Blur, Bloc Party and the like, getting progressively louder and rockier as their set drew to it’s culmination with an angular and punkish Not Like The Others. Never less than totally at home on the stage, these Giants may just go far.

The room transformed as Bain and his drummer sidekick begin setting up: people pour in (where were they hiding during the support acts?) and the vibe becomes considerably more electric.

When they play, Bain wields his twelve string acoustic like a gun, a small army of effects pedals at his feet and a harmonica around his neck, while his secret weapon Kramer – an alumni of Thrust, Blue Shaddy and an absolute powerhouse behind the drumkit – propels Bain’s rootsy (think of a more soulful Xavier Rudd/Jon Butler amalgam, but with balls) rock along at juggernaut speed.

Bain’s songs are engaging, heartfelt, multi-layered beyond his years or the fact that there are only two people on the big Rosemount stage, and gloriously affirming stuff, a fact that goes a long way to getting the audience off as they crowd the front of the stage, bathed in a light show which is twinkling stars one minute, lightning flashes or cascading rainbows the next.

The chemistry and dynamic between Bain and Kramer is electric and instinctive, and when Bain unstraps the acoustic and sits behind the keyboard, leaving Kramer to plug in his Stratocaster for some tasty, understated soloing before jumping back behind the kit, it’s a magical moment.

Its well after the witching hour by the time the set wraps up and the dynamic duo join the crowd for hand shaking and back slapping a-plenty. As the crowd file out happily, there’s unlikely to be a soul left thinking that this combo couldn’t take it all the way.