Ghost Riding with Adelaide's Brillig
Music
As I made my way into the Grace Emily Hotel, along with a good-sized crowd of the faithful, the anticipation of once again seeing something special from Adelaide band Brillig had a good hold on me.
Looking around, it seemed that every chair and couch in the place had been plonked down where the dance floor usually was, so as to afford all audience members a up-close view of this deliciously intimate show.
The boys wore their hair neatly slicked back; Matt Swayne’s longer Gothic locks and top hat are long gone, replaced by tasteful cowboy shirts. He plays electric guitar (Rickenbacker), acoustic guitar, banjo and harmonica, though seldom all at the same time, to support his own rich vocals.
Elizabeth Reid – heroine of the macabre lyric and sultry, expressive vocal – adds colour with skilful autoharp, piano accordion and ukulele, not to mention her promised white cowboy boots. Playing autoharp and singing would seem to be a rather difficult task, but she pulls it off with aplomb.
Providing the essential and cruisily smooth anchor to all this is Denni Meredith on electric bass (also Rickenbacker).
Together, Brillig play their “cowboy stuff” and “ocean stuff”- to quote them – plus the odd macabre folk tune. Death is a regular theme.
“Now that I’m an outlaw, I turned a little bad somehow”, sings Reid, explaining: “I wrote this when I was mad!” “Yeah, just that one time!” the boys quip. The witty banter throughout is the perfect foil to the at-times dark lyrics, supported by very tidy arrangements which prove that a “less is more” approach is the perfect way to pay homage to songs and allow them to shine through.
“I Ain’t Ever Gonna See the Sea” – the title track from Brillig’s last LP – is a standout, and there are a couple of excellent covers. Other highlights are “Bang, Bang”, sung by Reid, with the Rickenbacker guitar on tremolo, and the title track of the new CD single, “Ghost Riders in the Sky”, featuring vocals from Matt Swayne with assistance from Zac Coligan (Jade Monkey).
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The single also includes “Now That I’m an Outlaw”, with a fabulous contribution on violin from Emma Woolcock (Fiddle Chicks), and “Our Pretty Horses”, a rare treat as no one actually dies during the entire song.
The inevitable encore at the Grace Emily gig was grumpily responded to by Swayne with: “I thought we discussed this earlier?” It was all very tongue-in-cheek and we did get our encore with the banjo, bass and ukulele cranking out a country tune about the Tennessee stud and the Tennessee mare inevitably falling in love and living happily ever after.
Excellent musicianship, great songs and good humour all contribute to a Brillig performance. The new single and superb back catalogue albums are available from brillig.com.au.
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