Newton Told Me

God, I can't believe I missed Nick Currie's lecture Down With Fun at Galleri Krets! But what really bothers me is I don't find out until NOW, a month later. Fortunately he'll be back to play in Lund next year. Talking to people at So Tough! So Cute! yesterday, I should at least count myself lucky I didn't miss out on The Hepburns two days ago... It was Matt's first time in Sweden, so he didn't dare to bring the whole band. Now that he knows it's quite safe and the teenage fans won't corner them and scream at harmful frequencies, he considers coming back with a full band in the spring. A guy has to protect his ears, and all that.

The decibel level at the sparse gallery in southern Malmö was notably low for a POP show, and the atmosphere hushed. Anthony Rochester (from Tasmania!) even felt compelled to whisper his banter. He opened with a tasteful set on Danelectro guitar and ipod backtrack. A few members of the secretive local act Testbild! joined him for a some of the songs, and these later made up Matt's backing band - together with Anthony. At the most there were five of them, as you can see. I hope it says something about the talent of the Testbild! members that they'd only rehearsed for two days and still played a (as far as I can tell) note-perfect gig. The line-up with vibraphone and the occasional trombone made for a slightly different sound than on the record - I'm looking forward to hearing the song they recorded together! I only recognised the first song ("Beautiful Mover") as they played mostly Matt's new material, and a few from the latest album Something Worth Stealing which I still have the pleasure of hearing to look forward to.