Local five-piece Dancing Heals had the unenviable task of
kicking off proceedings at the near-empty Northcote Social Club on this particularly chilly Thursday evening. Despite their sparse audience, the band put in a stellar effort; regaling any who would listen with their brand of likeable
indie pop.

As the crowd began to grow,
Oh Mercy frontman Alexander Gow took to the stage on his lonesome and, despite quips to the contrary, seemed
quite at ease sans “loud band to hide behind.” Playing a collection of songs on
acoustic guitar that his band had recently written – many of which had never before
been played in a live setting – Gow charmed the crowd with his quiet wit,
soothing voice and endearing obsession for sticking to songs with only three or
four chords. “Anything more than that is self-flagellation,” he joked.

With the intimate venue now nearing capacity, the lads and
lass of London-based indie-folk quintet Fanfarlo at last took to the NSC’s
small stage and set about showcasing material from their debut 2009 LP, Reservoir. This was the band’s first visit to Australia and they seemed equal parts enthusiastic to enamour themselves to a new audience and quietly confident in the ability of their songs to stand up to the scrutiny of even the most nonchalant hipster.

There was an array of instrumental talent on display – the
ukulele, trumpet, violin and xylophone were all trotted out to complement the
jangly guitars and rolling, almost marching band-style drum beats. Singer Simon
Balthazar’s rumbling croon paid tribute to Beirut’s Zach Condon and combined
with the chants of the other band members to add a rousing sense of urgency to
refrains such as “The walls, the walls are coming down / The here and now is
coming round.”

It was refreshing to see a young band far from home, eager
to please and still humble, despite the success they have achieved thus far
(their track “Atlas” was included on this year’s mega Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack). Balthazar encouraged crowd participation too, engaging in an amusing slightly off-time call and response ‘cuckoo’ at the close of one of the early songs. He also seemed pleased at the amount of cameras in the audience, stating that “when I see people taking photos mid-song it’s like a form of virtual applause.”

Fanfarlo put on an honest and thoroughly enjoyable
performance; their enthusiasm for their craft spread like wildfire through all
in attendance.