'Sold out? WTF!?' Says an incredulous Thom Powers to the packed out Button Factory on Saturday March 5th. New Zealand's five piece, The Naked and Famous were touring their electro-pop/rock outfit ahead of the release of their debut album, 'Passive me, aggressive you'. Should he really have been surprised though? Their single 'Young Blood' debuted at number one in the New Zealand charts last year and was on heavy rotation in this hemisphere on radio along with equally strong singles 'Punching in a dream' and 'All of this'. They were also featured on the BBC sounds of 2011 list.
They were an interesting looking bunch and to blatantly pigeon-hole their style there's a nerd, a jock, a pretty indie girl, a rock n roll drummer and ... a mullet haired 70's style rocker. They got straight down to business and offering up early on a few of their singles, 'All of this' and 'Punching in a dream' to an ecstatic crowd, singers Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith sharing the vocals mostly in unison over their pumped up synth-pop.
It's clear these antipodeans are talented in the art of writing summery anthem-like songs, with 'Young Blood' being the penultimate. Instantly recognisable intro leading you in, building the excitement, then they hit you with the sugary electro-pop with just enough guitar and thumping bass to rock out to and with a catchy, sing-a-longable chorus. They could probably boast the best use of the word 'yeah' this side of hip hop, breathing new life into what is the most commonly used and meaningless lyric filler. A perfect and uplifting crowd pleaser.
Though they're great at melting into dreamy echos not all their tracks achieve the same dizzy heights as the upbeat numbers so they may need to pull another few gems out of the bag and be wary not to disappear under some of the more subdued tracks where the use of high pitched, floaty but muted vocals can get a bit sam-ey. Basically a can we have a little less of the passive and a bit more of that lovely aggression.
Loved the mullet! ;-) Was a great gig with a fun "up for it" crowd. The upbeat tracks were definitely the highlights though.
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