After visiting Melbourne last year, I’ve always been a big fan of Australia’s up-and-coming musical talents so when City Calm Down announced they were coming to Glasgow, I couldn’t wait to see what the Melbourne four piece were all about.
With a newly released album entitled, ‘Television’ and a constant string of gigs around the UK, Europe and Australia, it’s been quite the year for the band!
What I love most about City Calm Down is their unique mix of music. They don’t fall into just one music genre and each song they write sounds different to the next. For a band whose hometown is the other side of the world, City Calm Down brought a great support to their Oran Mor gig last week in Glasgow.
The opener began with one of their most recently released songs, ‘Television’ in which the song starts with an old television broadcast gripping the audience in and then naturally breaking into song. The catchy bassline, edgy guitar riff and raw lyrics collide together creating the perfect live ambience.
Next, the band take a step back into the past by performing, ‘Rabbit Run’, a song from their first album, ‘In a Restless House’. It’s the type of song that allows you to zone out of reality for a bit and escape making it one of my favourites from the band. It’s a song you’d hear in a Hollywood movie and seeing it live made it that more special. If you’re a fan of bands such as The National and The War on Drugs – this will be right up your street. The soft tempo of the song creates a different style for City Calm Down but it works.
From there, they played, ‘Blood’ from their second album, ‘Echoes in Blue’, a song I hadn’t heard before but instantly loved. It starts off a quiet synch with Jack’s vocals creating a crescendo that fills up the room so effortlessly. Suddenly song changes into a fast pace tempo – the kind that makes you want to dance. Although, I was unfamiliar with the song at first, it was clear the rest of the crowd weren’t as everyone was singing along.
It’s insane how a band all the way from Melbourne can have such an impact on a Glaswegian crowd but I suppose that’s the power of music, it connects people.
The one great thing about Glasgow’s music scene is a lot of people discover bands by accident. A lot of people at the gig were probably just out for some casual drinks and decided they wanted to listen to some live music – a few hours later they’ve discovered one of the most upcoming, exciting Melbourne bands of today!
As mentioned previously, City Calm Down just released their third album and after listening to it on repeat prior to the gig, it was great to see a lot of the setlist dedicated to that. Songs like ‘Lucy Bradley’, ‘Visions of Graceland’ and ‘New Years Eve’ sounded even better live than they did on the album and it was great to see the band perform with such passion. The band itself sound a lot more like a British 80s indie/rock group such as The Cure or Simple Minds… one song in particular, ‘Weatherman’ sounds like something from a John Hughes movie. You don’t get a lot of bands nowadays that can nail British 80s music but City Calm Down certainly do.
I had no idea what to expect before the gig but after speaking to the band and seeing them perform live, it's clear they have the talent and the passion to go somewhere. I'm excited to see what the future holds for the band and already can't wait for them to make a return to Glasgow!
If you haven't listened to them before .... Check them out on the links below!
Spotify
https://www.facebook.com/citycalmdown/
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