Tucked away downstairs at the Narrabeen RSL is a tiny room reminiscent of the back bar at the old Sussex Hotel in Sydney. Despite its miniscule size, the sound is awesome and when you throw a few Friday night primed folk in to soak it all up, it’s a pretty cool, intimate little venue.
Like Little Quirks, Molly Millington also hails from the Central Coast, and with a country-esque voice, a couple of foot kick boxes and a swag of naive love songs, her happy jack delivery is a great opener for the night.
MGMT’s Electric Feel comes off kinda rootsy, any mistakes are laughed off, and the little anecdotes between songs shed a bit of light into Molly’s musical ethos.
Latest single Daddy’s Gotta Gun winds up the set and is the perfect peppered, passion-edged finish.
Little Quirks have grown in leaps and bounds of late and it seems their confidence and inherent talent has seen a natural progression from rootsy, folksy pop to a more bouncy delivery of beautifully infectious, dare I say, Quirky pop.
Theirs is an instant infection on every occasion.
The beautifully simplistic, haunting throes of Stand Still. Same Old’s awesome harmonies and smoky wafts that seep into your soul and leave you wanting more. The cow-poking slow train of Stay Awake. Beautiful acoustic charm from every angle.
A nod to obvious influences as The Lumineers’ Ho Hey gets a pop-topped workover in true LQ style, ahead of the catchy as all hell Unwinding. A pure infectious gem of a ditty.
American Authors’ Best Day of My Life is another perfect showcase for those sibling harmonies, before latest single I Told You So leaves no doubt as to the new direction with its bouncerama and pop folk perfection. A king hit in any language.
Cant Help Falling in love is always a crowd fave and with the LQ spin, it jumps straight into the warm and fuzzy zone, with Vance Joy’s Mess is Mine and The Cranberries’ Dreams winding up the first set. Mandolin, guitar, bass and drums never sounded so good!
The gorgeous dark waft of Piece of Mind opens the second set, sounding quite rocky with its highs and lows. Ed Sheeran’s Give Me Love and Lumineers’ Flowers in My Hair sit so perfectly in the Little Quirks domain, with the latter actually sounding way better than the original, with those gorgeous vox, simple acoustics and kickarse bottom end.
Zombie’s dark overtones are wrapped in LQ beauty. Rock solid.
Run Away further showcases those killer harmonies, making it seem all so effortless. And that’s where the Little Quirks charm lies…no pretence…no false airs…just pure raw, heartfelt sounds that draw you in from the outset.
Mia’s razor-sharp drumming and top end vox, Jaymi’s warm, deep toned vox and mandolin, Abbey’s amazing vocal range and guitar, and Alex’s driving, under stated bass rhythms.
As we near the tail end, The Proclaimers’ 500 miles works well mandolin style and sees the suitably primed crowd go dance crazy.
First single About The World is the one that won me from the very start. Just as endearing live. Beautiful dynamics, vox that swim all over the canvas and a gorgeous charm that is impossible to not fall in love with.
Follow that with the emphatic dark throes of Hold On...vox again so perfectly in synch…a bit of Fleetwood Mac and final song Crumbled’s hillbilly hay ride… so tight, so poppy, so cool…and you can begin to understand just how big Little Quirks deserve to be.
Mark Fraser- redbackrock.com
