Polka Dot Dot Dot
supported by Seth Frightening and Enright House
Thursday 24th July Dux De Lux, Chch
Thursday nights at the Dux are always a treat. All who made it to see Polka Dot Dot Dot supported by Enright House and Seth Frightening got an especially sweet mix. The three Polka Dots, famous for their Pied Piper procession through the woods at Camp A Low Hum ‘07 give you the feeling they have skipped and harmonized all the way from Washington State. Their quirky, A’cappella, folk music seems hard to imagine until you see them in action -beating rhythms on their limbs and singing upbeat, ditties with a little backing from ukulele, banjo or a saw. The good time feeling nearly turned to stand up comedy when charming Jordan cracked up the audience with tales of a lonely, homosexual robot from the sci-fi novel he was reading. See their final North Island shows and you’ll be sure to catch a spot of musical sunshine. Who wouldn’t be smitten with a US band that named their latest album “Love Letters to New Zealand”?
The middle act, Seth Frightening played a tight and beautiful solo set with acoustic guitar - his voice, sounded as if carved from the same capital kauri as Shaun K Anderson's. Seth, however, should really only be a sapling at his age! This is not a bad pun about Shaun’s label Twig. At his young age, Seth (also of Seth and Merle) sits comfortably amongst NZA’s maturing folk revival.
Mark Roberts started the show by returning Enright House to its solo electric origins; well almost. Although on this night he asked Evan for additional keyboard back up, Mark will shortly be on a solo tour. “Broken Hands” is my favourite A Low Hum EP so I was especially interested to hear what new material was on offer. “Afterthoughts” was a full bodied opener with vocoder and immense synth that filled the little Tavern Bar. The latest untitled track had all the hallmarks of previous albums- spacious, emotionally driven, slowly evolving layers and awesome effects; this time from a bowed guitar. When I asked Mark the reason for his return to an electronic focus he quipped “technology eats teleology alive, and orchestras are expensive to hire.” Catch the August North Island tour by both solo artists Enright House and i.Royko.
Review by Lil Hear Plug
