Angus and Julia Stone - Scala, London, 8/5/2008

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 24 / 5 / 2008

intro

Australian brother and sister duo Angus and Julia Stone have been attracting a rising audience with their blissful, intricate folk-pop. Ben Howarth watches them play a set of effortless and melodic charm at the Scala in London

Having made one of my favourite albums of the year thus far, I was looking forward to this show. So it seems were lots of other people - the venue was rammed. I've been surprised how little I've read about this Australian brother-sister combo, given how marvellous their album is, but clearly enough people have been tipped off about their blissful, intricate folk-pop. Much of the set came from their first two mini-albums, 'Heart Full of Wine' and 'Chocolate and Cigarettes' (now compiled for the UK market into a single package, making their recent album 'A Book Like This' effectively their second album), and it is clear that they have been composing high quality music long before they garnered any public attention. It is Julia that dominates the stage? She has a 'kooky' stage presence that I suppose some people would find annoying. But her songs are frequently extraordinary, and though she clearly admires Bjork and Joanna Newsome, she is not too contrary to be listenable. Her brother Angus prefers to stick to the sidelines, but it is his songs that shine, I would argue. It is on these compositions that the pair's capacity to surprise really shows through. There were, however. moments in the show when the band took the low key appraoch a little too far, and seemed to be jamming for essentially no reason. Nevertheless, this is a band that possess the effortless charm and way with a tune that will doubtless win over festival crowds this summer, before they return to London to play at the Roundhouse in September.

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