Monday, November 02, 2015

When Oh Mercy Talks About Love

The introduction to the new Oh Mercy album this year was via the intimate Parlour gig, one June Melbourne night.

Parlour has been labelled the "AirBnB for gigs", where you can sign up to have a band come and play in a space you may have for the occasion. This particular evening was in a art warehouse, a kind of communal work space, called Magic Johnston.

It was solo Alex, with an occasional accompanying violinist, in a space like a lounge room, where the gathering of people sat on cushions on the floor, or stood around the walls. Mulled wine kept us all warm!

He tested his new songs, mixed in with a couple of covers, and some older favourites. Songs like Sandy and Let Me Be Him, along with Lady Eucalyptus, My Man and Deep Heat. He was chatty and engaging. He also had copies of the new soon-to-be released album, which meant that I got my copy early!

The proper launch of When We Talk About Love was at Howler. I joined Nicole and Mary in the bandroom in time to catch a song and a half of the second opening act - and recall a bemused look between us we listened.

This fourth album from Alex Gow was written in the US mostly, and as he has told it, was him working through a break-up. Sad, grieving tunes of loss and longing.

This time also saw the introduction of his new band make-up, which actually made the sound of Oh Mercy quite different. To that end, the solo songs of this gig were probably my favourite, being more true to the band we have followed for so long.

Opening with I Don't Really Want To Know, it was a showcase of the new songs, with All Roads Lead To You, and Without You as stand outs. Plus Lay Everything On Me, Drums and Keith Street from previous releases.

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