Tinpan Orange; Northcote Social Club Feb 2012

The support act for Tinpan Orange was Jess Ribeiro and she was well
chosen for the slot. The crowd were sitting blissfully listening to
her delightfully dulcet tones. She began with maybe 40 people in the
room and they were with her all the way. Towards the end of the show
there were 80 happy relaxed people in the room. As people startied
filling in for the main act the audience had to stand to fit them all
in.

It was a sellout show and I began to realise why very quickly. This
band just oozes talent; but more, Tinpan Orange is driven with a
singular purpose! Sometimes when a group of musicians this talented
play together one may want to outshine another. This team of talent
are most certainly all on the same side. They quite clearly love
playing together and the audience is brought into the sheer joy of it!
You feel like you are their mate sitting in your very own private jam
session!

They're a hard band to define; with elements of country, folk,
flamenco and jazz. I guess one handle could be indie; but it's just
not a good enough description of what they do. I think of Tinpan
Orange as: Stevie Nicks crossed with Peter Garrett and Kate Bush
fronting a band that is really like no other. Emily Lubitz
is striking and hauntingly sweet; a valkyrie/amazon who expresses
emotion with her hands and voice beautifully. Her brother; Guitarist
Jesse Lubitz; along with Harry Angus (keys and trumpet) and Alex
Burkoy (violin, mandolin) make some angelic three part harmonies that
float beautifully behind Emily's lead vocals. Danny Farrugia's drumming while
compelling was not overpowering and it was marvellous to see brushes
out in the first song! I loved his little cymbals attached to his
right hand drumstick although for audiences it probably means he never
throws his sticks into the crowd for souvenirs! :(

The crowd were mesmerised by the relaxed vibe of short, cute intros to
each song and I think it helped build the intimacy of the gig. The
sound was beautifully engineered by Brett Doig allowing the band to all be heard
delightfully in a PACKED room! I can't praise the Northcote Social
Club enough as a venue. Wow! Good visibility, good size room,
intimate and comfortable (as long as you made sure to remove your
layers). This was a great gig to celebrate the second anniversary of
SLAM (Save Live Australia's Music); a rally Tinpan Orange played for
in 2010.

This band is bound to make it really big; my tip: see them as soon as
possible while they are filling up small venues and while their ticket
price is so low!

They next play WA Nannup Music Festival 4th March, Fremantle; Mojos
Bar 5th March, With Jordie Lane and 9th-12th March Port Fairy Folk
Festival , Victoria.

Jess Ribeiro 4 stars.

Tinpan Orange 5 stars.

Nimal Jayawardhana

** this review was written for artshub.com.au but was not published
due to time etcetera.