Softly-spoken
Sutherland Shire quintet Dead Letter Chorus headed over to the land of
Canada earlier this year with very little expectations; hoping maybe to
sell a t-shirt or two at most. What they got instead was a new Canadian
touring agent, strong fan response, sell out shows and even a support
act for their national Australian tour - Two Hours Traffic, a charming
indie four-piece making their debut visit to Australia.

Despite a late
start to their set in Wollongong ("we were having some great Indian
food just across the road!"), the band wasted little time when it came
down to the music itself. It's a set of sharp, intrinsic rock that is
open to creating pop music while it's at it.

Influences for
their textured sound were evident, ranging from Elliott Smith and The
Shins up to fellow countrymen such as The New Pornographers and Broken
Social Scene. The harmonies between frontman Liam Cocoran and lead
guitarist Alec O'Hanley were also notable, sweetening what could often
be dreary subject matter. Their impressive multi-tasking of both their
guitars and keyboards (Cocoran on a small Casio, O'Hanley on a piano
keyboard borrowed from DLC) was also quite interesting to watch.

Where
the slightly-overlong performance faltered was never in terms of the
band's ability, rather their appeared reluctance to be performing.
Alright, so it was to a small crowd in a small town; but the fact that
the band were most likely further from home than they'd ever been
should have been enough fuel for the fire - it's not everyday an indie
band from Prince Edward Island (go on, look it up on Wikipedia - it
exists) gets to travel through Australia to the extent that Dead Letter
have allowed on this tour. Maybe it was just the wear and tear of the
road, but Two Hours Traffic didn't seem entirely there this evening; in
spite of their best intentions.

Dead Letter Chorus didn't appear
to have the same problem at all. As a matter of fact, they couldn't
have been happier to have been back in Australia and playing to a disappointingly sparse, but nonetheless adoring audience. They are a band
that love performing, and make the most out of the time they are
on-stage. They go about their music in a workman (and woman!) like
fashion, but it's never comes across as laboured or forced. Rather, it's a
labour of love.

For this evening's performance - and, we can assume,
the rest of the tour - the group had a swag full of brand new songs
from their forthcoming sophomore album. Each of these songs appeared to
be both a continuation and a strengthening of their textured, autumnal
folk-rock that began on their wonderful debut, The August Magnificent.
Co-frontperson Cameron Potts' vocals are as charming as ever, but it's
his other musical half - the pint-sized powerhouse Gaby Huber - who
seems to have really come into her own in regards to the new material.
Her voice quivers, swoons and soars over the rest of the band's
instrumentation, now more frequently in up-tempo arrangements. It
wouldn't be fair to say it's a revelation, on account of her already
being prodigious at what she does, but it's certainly a pleasure to
hear her in such strong form after the band's been away from the
country for so long.

Members of both bands pulled together to
perform the wonderful "Last Night In Your Town", a new track that had
been road tested last year by DLC, but had since been turned into a
duet. This not only worked perfectly, but it brought together what was
possibly the highlight of the entire evening. There was just something
so inspiring, seeing a clad of musicians playing together in perfect
harmony - in both senses of the phrase. It's not everyday one gets to
experience something like that, capping off what had been another
evening of exceptional live music in the town of Wollongong.

If only
more were around to witness it.

With apologies to Sunday Waits, whom were missed upon late arrival.

Header Photo from:
http://www.myspace.com/deadletterchorus