With the launch of their new single “Uniforms”, Melbourne based band Black Cab (Andrew Coates, James Lee and Wes Holland) brought their hypnotic, melancholy synth sounds to create surreal dreamlike soundscapes. Newtown Social Club may not be the biggest of venues but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t packed to the rafters with devoted fans all set to get their dance on.
Ironically, Black Cab decided to open up the set with the tune “Closing Ceremony”, a powerful number that set the pace and sent everyone into overdrive. As fellow groovers twitched, jerked and jolted along to other favourites such as "Victorious," "Sexy Polizei" and "Combat Boots" before jumping into the new track "Uniforms."
Black Cab has been compared to such great goth acts of the 80s as The Cure, Joy Division and Depeche Mode and listening to their music, it quickly becomes obvious why. Black Cab keep their tunes in the context of the musical movement, but bring them into the 21 century by using technology to create intriguing sonic spaces and an overwhelming sense of feeling removed and isolated from the outside world. But it is within their lyrics that you’ll find a poetic sensibility and romanticism that everyone can relate too, reconnecting us all.
With technology having a huge impact on the way that they create music, it’s no wonder that it also plays a huge role when it comes to the visual aspect of their live performances. Whether it's psychedelic geometrical shapes or ghostly A.I beings looming over the musicians as they play on stage, the projections are just as important when it comes to creating the perfect marriage between what we see and what we hear.
The musicians on stage seem to be in their element, not really interacting with the crowd, but then they seem so enthralled to the music that their creating that you would feel intrusive in disrupting the intensity of performance.
For the encore Black Cab played their rendition of Joy Division's "Isolation." Perhaps it was the closest we will ever get to seeing Ian Curtis play live.
Black Cab make you want to dance with your eyes closed, lose all inhibition and move your body (no matter how uncoordinated that may be) and feel the dark, throbbing rhythms as they encase you. With "Uniforms" being the first single released in the last two years it seems clear that this is the beginning of something new and exciting.
