Indie music stars gather at Laneway Music Festival

SINGAPORE: Nearly 8,000 hard core music fans from all over Asia and beyond converged here on Sunday for the annual St. Jerome’s Laneway Music Festival. It was the second time the event was staged in the Lion City following a successful debut in 2010.

Concertgoers descended on Fort Canning Park for the event, which gathers mostly artists from the indie pop and rock genre. Singapore was the final and only Asian stop for Laneway, which travelled through the cities of Auckland in New Zealand and Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne in Australia where the festival has its roots.

On the bill this year were (in order of appearance), Cults, Yuck, Chairlift, Austra, Girls, The Drums, Anna Calvi, Twin Shadow, Laura Marling, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Toro Y Moi, Feist, The Horrors and M83.

The Manila Times was the only Philippines-based broadsheet granted special media access to the festival. Prior to each band or artist’s set on either of the two main stages, they met members of the press from all over the region in a special media tent set-up backstage.

As crowds started to gather underneath the blazing noonday sun, first act, Cults, casually stepped inside the air-conditioned tent at 12:30 p.m. The New York-based duo of Brian Oblivion and Madeline Folin joked about fans calling their music “brain pop,” but became more serious as they discussed their maturing sound.

“I think we’re definitely better songwriters now,” said Oblivion, who channelled rockers like the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Andrew W.K with his beard and long hair. At 10 minutes before 2 p.m., Cults opened the festival with the song “Abducted,” causing the early birds at the open field to rush to the stage.

Each artist adhered to a strict 40-minute set in order to accommodate all 14 acts playing. Next to play were London-based indierock band Yuck.

“It’s really hot here in Singapore,” they said backstage. “But we’re glad we’re here.” While the four-piece group was the epitome of “laidback” and “chill” during their turn with the press, they put energy and passion into their set. Yuck has often been compared to early ‘90s indie rock acts like Pavement and Dinosaur Jr.

Chairlift was a last-minute addition to the festival line-up, but judging by the response when they climbed onstage, the decision met the crowd’s approval. “We don’t know what the secret is to getting the audience excited, but if you find out, do let us know,” said Patrick Wimberly to a reporter. He is in the band along with Caroline Polachek.

“We were both in love while doing the last record,” Polachek said, “he with his girlfriend and me with my own boyfriend. There were influences from hip hop, 90s house, Bollywood-style vocals; but since we started, the material [of our music] has more or less been the same.”

Canadian electronic act Austra were up next. While the band is composed of vocalist Katie Stelmanis, drummer Maya Postepski and bassist Dorian Wolf, only Stelmanis and Postepski met the press backstage.

“We’re having a lot of fun,” said Stelmanis.

The Laneway Music Festival is a travelling music extravaganza, which gathers artists from the international indie pop and rock genre. Singapore was its only Asian stop, while The Manila Times was the only Philippines-based broadsheet granted special media access to the show.

“This is our last show in about three months and it’s a bit like summer camp.”

Although both ladies said there was some truth to journalists labelling their music “electro-goth,” they added that “the name does not define us entirely.” Indeed, when the girls materialized onstage, there were joined by their bassist and two back- up singer- dancers that performed ritualistic moves over the sound of Stelmanis’ pleasurable wailings. It was as much of a visual treat as it was an auditory one.

The next band was called Girls but is composed of lead vocalist Christopher Owens and bassist Chet White, who are both very much males. There have been reports of Owens suf- fering from drug addiction but the yellowhaired, soft-spoken San Francisco-native has said in previous interviews that he is working on overcoming this. There were physical signs of withdrawal in Owens during the interview: bloodshot eyes, hands shaking uncontrollably, and an overall disposition of discomfort.

“I don’t really like festivals; I like to keep to myself, but this one is different. I enjoyed my time here and I like a lot of the other bands. Now I actually want to buy six new albums from these bands,” he confessed.

Onstage, the band belted out their trademark indie rock with gusto, with the vocalist looking like a cross between Macaulay Culkin and Kurt Cobain. He even sang “I Will Always Love You” as a tribute to Whitney Houston, who had died just the day before. It was one of the most stirring, heartfelt moments of the festival.

The Drums proved to be one of the highlights of the event. “Let’s make a deal,” vocalist Jonathan Pierce told the crowd. “If you dance, I’ll dance. If I dance, you’ll dance. Okay?” To which the reply was a resounding, “Yeah!” Mixing 80s British post-punk with adorable hooks that remind one of decidedly mainstream pop music, the band managed to get the audience moving and shaking like no one else before them can.

Inside the media tent, Pierce and fellow band member Jacob Graham also channelled energy and positivity. “This [festival] feels like a really fun dynamic,” said Pierce. “The people are really nice. We’re actually a bit sad that this is the last one.”

The next few acts alternated between highenergy and mellow. Anna Calvi slowed things down a bit with ethereal, pop songs injected with a bit of muscle; George Lewi,s a.k.a. Twin Shadow, revved the crowd back up with his electro pop sound married with 80s dance; and Laura Marling (who did not meet the press) brought back the spirit of the female troubadour with her Jewel-esque songs that belied the fact that she is just in her early 20s.

Towards the evening, the festival really kicked it into high gear with back to back sets from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (TPOBPAH) and Toro Y Moi.

There was a frustrating interruption two songs into the set of TPOBPAH due to technical glitches, but when the bug was fixed, the foursome of Kip Berman, Alex Naidus, Peggy Wang and Kurt Feldman launched right back into their well-applauded performance.

For his part, Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bundick maintained the feverish high left from the previous act through his own set of electronica-dance dipped in some chill and New Wave. (Incidentally, both acts are coming to do one-off shows in the Philippines very soon).

Arguably the biggest artist of the evening came next. Leslie Feist, also known just as Feist, has been a fixture in indie music circles for years, thanks to her albums Let It Die and The Reminder. Accompanied by her trio of amazing back-up singers, the Canadian singer-songwriter performed a mix of tunes from her back catalogue as well as new album Metals.

“Wow, you are such a great audience,” she told a visibly star struck crowd. When she launched into one of her more recent hits, “How Come You Never Call,” most everyone in the crowd was singing along.

The Horrors and M83 closed out the show. Anthony Gonzalez, a.k.a. M83, in particular, displayed his natural gift of stirring the crowd with his electro dream-pop cocktail, and managed to keep everyone at the highest levels of ecstasy despite the very late hour.

Sunday night turned into early Monday morning and as the crowds slowly filed out of Fort Canning Park, satisfaction clearly etched on their faces. Laneway 2012 was a smashing success. Organizers for next year’s show certainly have their work cut out for them.