Friday and Saturday nights provide a certain type of entertainment. For most people there are no work commitments beckoning the next morning, and the inclination is to milk the evening’s colour for its worth. Sunday nights are a different breed. Revelry is replaced by reverie, by more atmospheric escapism. In that regard, Roadhouses are an evocative vision of dark Americana; turn a corner and stumble on them by chance, and you’re suddenly in a place of smoke-shrouded lights, beer and sawdust, a place of ancient Wurlitzers and slow-dancing with strangers. You half expect to see Harry Dean Stanton and David Lynch watching from a booth in the shadows.
Prior to the Sydney three-piece taking the stage, the night was opened by the wonderfully named Aidan D. Cooney. He cuts a strong and lonesome figure up there, just he and the electric guitar. He has a curious performance style, with the guitar almost jolting away from him at times, as though it was in fact playing itself and Cooney was saddled in like a rider on a mechanical bull. He faces the usual struggles of a solo singer-songwriter – maintaining our interest across half an hour of songs from a similar palette – but the man has presence and a voice, something strangely suggestive of a brooding Harry Connick Jr. with a pack a day habit. He plays with quiet intensity, and it will be interesting to catch him with a full band.
Roadhouses are still quite a fresh band, though each member comes from years of experience. Comprising Yvonne Moxham, Cec Condon and James Bellesini (who is, I swear, the perfect fusion of Jeff Goldblum and Patti Smith), it’s hard to pin a succinct label to them. There is something mysterious and sedate to their sound, a country/lounge music crossover that is as compelling as it is hypnotic.
Strange at it may seem, you can imagine this is the soundtrack of returning to the party after it has suffered some unspoken trauma, waltzing through rooms of discarded desire and boozy revelation. Roadhouses have a touch of North American gothic, albeit transplanted to Australia and aided in no small measure by Moxham’s stunning, sultry vocals. Though they delivered a grand Beachwood Sparks cover, ‘Water From The Well’, their closing trio were my highlight; ‘Black Lights’, ‘Drinkin’’ and ‘Non-Believer’.
Their debut album arrives later in the year, and it will be curious to see just how many rooms Roadhouses hold.
