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Friday night’s Club NME at Koko played host to two of Australia’s most exciting bands. The first was San Cisco, a twee adolescent five- piece from Perth, the second: Van She - hailing from Sydney.
At the bar I got chatting to an Aussie guy who couldn’t contain his excitement for San Cisco of which he assured were, “absolutely massive back home “, using the word stoked to an excessive amount. It’s easy to see why this man was so hyped for San Cisco, and how they are doing so well – firstly their drummer is a girl, a winning trinket to the coolness of any band and secondly, their blend of low-fi pop is just incredibly easy to enjoy, requiring little thought or concentration.
They seemed a little daunted – but played well and if anything, their jitters made them even more endearing. The clear highpoint was their biggest hit ‘Awkward’, which has clocked up around two million hits on YouTube, a tongue in cheek, teenage ode to stalking your love interest.
Van She released their second LP ‘Idea Of Happiness’ a couple of months ago. Their show was brilliant, captivating the audience from beginning to end, and filling the room with tropical rhythms and sunshine, the perfect antidote to outsides rainy and blustery London. They were a mix of Friendly Fires and Foster the People – a great place to subsist for any band.
‘Calypso’ ‘Jamaica’ and ‘Idea of Happiness’ went down an absolute storm, uniting the crowd in chorus. Lead singer Matt Van Schie didn’t seem to be much of a mover, standing transfixed in one spot for nearly all of their performance. What tonight did best though was to reinstate just how on point Australia seem to be with their imaginative and interesting pop, long may it continue.
